By Teresa Masterson
NBCPhiladelphia.com
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38598523/ns/local_news-philadelphia_pa/
A long-time employee of Woods Services, the facility where an autistic man died after being left in a hot car for hours, was arrested for allegedly selling cocaine, police say.
Uron Brinson, 34, of Pennington Avenue in Trenton, N.J., sold an ounce of cocaine for $1,120 to an undercover person on July 26 in the parking lot of Woods Services, police say.
Brinson then sold 110 grams of cocaine for $5,000 in the same parking lot of the special needs organization on Friday Aug. 6, Bristol Township Police say.
To read the full article, please click the following link: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38598523/ns/local_news-philadelphia_pa/
Showing posts with label Pennsylvania. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pennsylvania. Show all posts
Friday, August 6, 2010
Thursday, August 5, 2010
PA: 1st Grade Teacher, Camp Counselor Arrested on Child Porn Charges
By Teresa Masterson, Vince Lattanzio
David Devine, a first grade teacher for the West Chester Area School District and director of Camp Flying Hawk day camp, possessed more than 500 sexually explicit images of elementary-school-age children, according to Delaware County District Attorney G. Michael Green.
Devine, 34, taught first graders at Penn Wood Elementary for a year and a half, officials said. The district said Devine passed all required background tests before starting at the school.
"Devines clearances were completed prior to his employment," the district said in a statement. "No infractions were reported in these clearances, and we have had no reports of any improper conduct by Mr. Devine during his employment with the district."
School district officials say their Internet filtering system prevents anyone from accessing pornographic sites on school property.
Investigators were tipped off to Devine's alleged habits by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
It is unknown whether or not the photos are of any children with which Devine was in contact, but D.A. Green says there's no reason thus far to believe that to be the case.
For the complete article, please follow the link: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38576157/ns/local_news-philadelphia_pa/
NBCPhiladelphia.com
A first grade teacher in West Chester and director of a local summer camp was arrested on charges of having hundreds of images of child pornography, authorities say.
David Devine, a first grade teacher for the West Chester Area School District and director of Camp Flying Hawk day camp, possessed more than 500 sexually explicit images of elementary-school-age children, according to Delaware County District Attorney G. Michael Green.
Devine, 34, taught first graders at Penn Wood Elementary for a year and a half, officials said. The district said Devine passed all required background tests before starting at the school.
"Devines clearances were completed prior to his employment," the district said in a statement. "No infractions were reported in these clearances, and we have had no reports of any improper conduct by Mr. Devine during his employment with the district."
School district officials say their Internet filtering system prevents anyone from accessing pornographic sites on school property.
Investigators were tipped off to Devine's alleged habits by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
It is unknown whether or not the photos are of any children with which Devine was in contact, but D.A. Green says there's no reason thus far to believe that to be the case.
For the complete article, please follow the link: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38576157/ns/local_news-philadelphia_pa/
PA: 1st Grade Teacher, Camp Counselor Arrested on Child Porn Charges
By Teresa Masterson, Vince Lattanzio
David Devine, a first grade teacher for the West Chester Area School District and director of Camp Flying Hawk day camp, possessed more than 500 sexually explicit images of elementary-school-age children, according to Delaware County District Attorney G. Michael Green.
Devine, 34, taught first graders at Penn Wood Elementary for a year and a half, officials said. The district said Devine passed all required background tests before starting at the school.
"Devines clearances were completed prior to his employment," the district said in a statement. "No infractions were reported in these clearances, and we have had no reports of any improper conduct by Mr. Devine during his employment with the district."
School district officials say their Internet filtering system prevents anyone from accessing pornographic sites on school property.
Investigators were tipped off to Devine's alleged habits by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
It is unknown whether or not the photos are of any children with which Devine was in contact, but D.A. Green says there's no reason thus far to believe that to be the case.
For the complete article, please follow the link: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38576157/ns/local_news-philadelphia_pa/
NBCPhiladelphia.com
A first grade teacher in West Chester and director of a local summer camp was arrested on charges of having hundreds of images of child pornography, authorities say.
David Devine, a first grade teacher for the West Chester Area School District and director of Camp Flying Hawk day camp, possessed more than 500 sexually explicit images of elementary-school-age children, according to Delaware County District Attorney G. Michael Green.
Devine, 34, taught first graders at Penn Wood Elementary for a year and a half, officials said. The district said Devine passed all required background tests before starting at the school.
"Devines clearances were completed prior to his employment," the district said in a statement. "No infractions were reported in these clearances, and we have had no reports of any improper conduct by Mr. Devine during his employment with the district."
School district officials say their Internet filtering system prevents anyone from accessing pornographic sites on school property.
Investigators were tipped off to Devine's alleged habits by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
It is unknown whether or not the photos are of any children with which Devine was in contact, but D.A. Green says there's no reason thus far to believe that to be the case.
For the complete article, please follow the link: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38576157/ns/local_news-philadelphia_pa/
PA: Pittsburgh Public Schools Settle Suit over Girl's Anorexia, Taunting
Wednesday, August 04, 2010
A former student at Frick Middle School who claimed that teasing from fellow students about her weight -- and the administration's failure to halt the abuse -- led her to develop anorexia has agreed to settle her federal lawsuit.
Filed by the girl, identified as "B.G." and her mother, "Mary V." in U.S. District Court last August citing a hostile school environment, the suit will settle for $55,000, as well as the cost of mediation.
The Pittsburgh Public Schools board approved the settlement in May. However, according to the plaintiffs' lawyer, he has been unable to get in touch with his client since then.
"Mary V. has ceased communications with her counsel. She has failed to return phone calls or respond to correspondence," wrote Edward G. Olds in a motion to the court last week.
The only issue left open at the time of the mediation, Mr. Olds said, was the division of the settlement proceeds between the mother and daughter.
U.S. District Judge Donetta W. Ambrose has scheduled a hearing on the settlement for today.
Schools Solicitor Ira Weiss said he is hoping that Judge Ambrose will issue an order enforcing the settlement action.
"It is not uncommon for parties to seek court intervention to enforce a settlement," Mr. Weiss said.
At the time of mediation, he added, all of the parties were present and signed a summary of what they expected the settlement to be.
Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10216/1077392-53.stm#ixzz0vlTStrvA
PA: Residential Abuse and Neglect: The Death of Brian Nevins
By Amy Caraballo, AWN Contributing Writer
For years we have been told to not lock our pets in our cars even in cool weather. Public service announcements have flooded the media warning of the dangers that quickly arise causing heatstroke and suffocation.
- [1] It takes only minutes for a pet left in a vehicle on a warm day to succumb to heatstroke and suffocation. Most people don't realize how hot it can get in a parked car on a balmy day. However, on a 78 degree day, temperatures in a car parked in the shade can exceed 90 degrees -- and hit a scorching 160 degrees if parked in the sun!
But on July 24, 2010 a residential treatment facility in Eastern Pennsylvania left a 20 year old Autistic boy locked in a sweltering hot van parked in the facility's own parking lot for more than five hours in 97 degree weather. Brian Nevins' lifeless body was found in the van only after a staff nurse could not find him to administer medications.
The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that after an outing to Sesame Place in Langhorne PA, a Woods Services counselor dropped off a colleague and two of his clients on campus. She then drove a short distance to adjoining homes where her two clients lived. Only one of her two clients was taken into the facility. Brian Nevins was left in a back passenger seat with locked doors that could only be opened from outside. According to the Inquirer, the unnamed counselor returned to work and finished her shift, clocking out and leaving a few hours later.
While the unnamed counselor, who has been suspended, appears to be the primary focus of the investigation, many questions come to mind regarding the entire facility's treatment of residents. In November, a 17-year-old Woods resident died when he was struck by cars after falling from a highway overpass. The Bucks County Coroner's Office ruled that death accidental.
For the full article, please follow the link:
http://www.autismwomensnetwork.org/article/residential-abuse-and-neglect
PA: Bucks Caregiver Faces Criminal Neglect Charges in Autistic Man's Heat Death
"Everyone was out of the van."
Time and again, when Bucks County investigators asked how a helpless, autistic man had been left to die last month in a sweltering, parked vehicle, that had been his caregiver's response, court records say.
She was wrong - criminally so, police have now concluded.
On Tuesday, authorities charged that caregiver, Stacey Strauss of Philadelphia, with fatally neglecting Bryan Nevins, a 20-year-old client at Woods Services, a Langhorne care facility.
Nevins' body was found July 24 in a van she had parked outside Woods Services, where he had been left behind on a 97-degree afternoon.
Severely autistic, Nevins was so childlike that he was never supposed to be out of his caregiver's view, court records say. Yet he was left in the van for five hours after returning from an excursion to Sesame Place.
"Mr. Nevins' death was not simply a tragic accident," said a statement issued by Bucks County District Attorney David W. Heckler and Middletown Township's acting public safety director, Patrick McGinty. "Rather, his death resulted from the criminal failure of the defendant to discharge her assigned responsibilities to Mr. Nevins."
For the full article, please follow the link:: http://www.philly.com/inquirer/front_page/20100804_Bucks_caregiver_faces_criminal_neglect_charges_in_autistic_man_s_heat_death.html#ixzz0vlJfJ4Dk
PA: State official calls autistic man's death 'totally avoidable'
The state official whose agency regulates the Bucks County facility where a severely autistic man died in a sweltering van called the death "totally avoidable" and said his staff had accelerated its investigation into the case.
Richard Gold, deputy secretary for the Office of Children, Youth and Families, said inspectors had been at Woods Services' campus in Langhorne almost every day since Bryan Nevins' death on July 24.
In an interview Wednesday, Gold said his office expected to release preliminary findings this week. He declined to elaborate, but was blunt in his assessment.
"In my opinion," Gold said, "this was a totally avoidable tragedy."
Bucks County prosecutors on Tuesday charged a counselor at the facility with felony neglect of a care-dependent person and other counts.
They said Stacey Strauss of Philadelphia was responsible for Nevins when she and another counselor escorted him and three other Woods clients to and from Sesame Place that Saturday.
According to a probable-cause affidavit, Nevins, whose parents say he had the mental ability of a toddler, was left in the back of the van after it returned to the campus around 12:30 p.m.
Nearly five hours passed before staff realized he was missing. They found his body across the backseat of the van, his arms folded.
Authorities say Nevins probably died within an hour from sitting in the torrid heat.
For the full article, please follow the link: http://www.philly.com/inquirer/local/100009479.html?cmpid=15585797#ixzz0vlIQIcil
PA: State Revokes Woods Services License After Heat-Related Death
State officials Thursday revoked one of the licenses of the Bucks County facility where a severely autistic man died in a sweltering van, and ordered eight other clients who lived in the same unit to be removed from the campus.
The Department of Public Welfare also banned Woods Services, the Langhorne residential care center, from accepting new clients until the department completes its investigation into the death of Bryan Nevins.
In a letter to the Woods Services president, Deputy Secretary Richard Gold cited what he called "gross incompetence, negligence and misconduct" by employees there that led to Nevins' heat-related death last month.
The revocation applies to just one of 37 licenses held by Woods Services for its Langhorne campus. Most of the nearly 1,400 special-needs clients aren't affected.
To Read the Full Article, Please Click the Following Link: http://www.philly.com/philly/news/breaking/20100805_State_revokes_license_of_center_where_man_died.html
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
PA: Man With Autism Left in Hot Car by Caregiver Die
Man With Autism Left in Hot Car by Caregiver Dies
Disabled man spent more than 5-hours in car as temps soared over 150-degrees
By VINCE LATTANZIO
Updated 11:21 AM EDT, Tue, Jul 27, 2010
Investigators want to know how a man with autism could be left inside a van for hours in the intense heat just steps from the facility where he lived.
The unidentified 20-year-old man died after spending more than five hours inside a van operated by Woods Services in Middletown Township, Pa. last Saturday, police say.
The man, whose autism left him unable to speak, was in the backseat of the van for a return trip from Sesame Place in Langhorne, Pa. with three other residents and two caregivers.
Once back on the grounds of the facility, two of the residents were taken inside by one caregiver, police said.
*********************************
When it was determined the man was missing, staff conducted a search of the buildings and subsequently the vehicle where he was found dead.
**********************************
The driver of the van and a coworker were both suspended after the man's death. Investigators are also looking into the possibility of whether criminal charges are warranted in the case.
For the full article, please follow this link: http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local-beat/Autistic-Man-Left-in-Hot-Car-by-Caregiver-Dies-99292304.html
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
PA: Philly TSA Agents Force 4 yr old Disabled Child through Metal Detectors without his Leg Braces or Parental Support
Excerpt from Philly.com:
By Daniel Rubin
Inquirer Columnist
February 15, 2010
Did you hear about the Camden cop whose disabled son wasn't allowed to pass through airport security unless he took off his leg braces?
Unfortunately, it's no joke. This happened to Bob Thomas, a 53-year-old officer in Camden's emergency crime suppression team, who was flying to Orlando in March with his wife, Leona, and their son, Ryan.
Ryan was taking his first flight, to Walt Disney World, for his fourth birthday.
The boy is developmentally delayed, one of the effects of being born 16 weeks prematurely. His ankles are malformed and his legs have low muscle tone. In March he was just starting to walk.
Mid-morning on March 19, his parents wheeled his stroller to the TSA security point, a couple of hours before their Southwest Airlines flight was to depart.
The boy's father broke down the stroller and put it on the conveyor belt as Leona Thomas walked Ryan through the metal detector.
The alarm went off.
The screener told them to take off the boy's braces.
The Thomases were dumbfounded. "I told them he can't walk without them on his own," Bob Thomas said.
"He said, 'He'll need to take them off.' "
Ryan's mother offered to walk him through the detector after they removed the braces, which are custom-made of metal and hardened plastic.
No, the screener replied. The boy had to walk on his own.
Leona Thomas said she was calm. Bob Thomas said he was starting to burn.
They complied, and Leona went first, followed by Ryan, followed by Bob, so the boy wouldn't be hurt if he fell. Ryan made it through.
By then, Bob Thomas was furious. He demanded to see a supervisor. The supervisor asked what was wrong.
"I told him, 'This is overkill. He's 4 years old. I don't think he's a terrorist.' "
The supervisor replied, "You know why we're doing this," Thomas said.
Thomas said he told the supervisor he was going to file a report, and at that point the man turned and walked away.
Friday, February 12, 2010
PA: 10.5 Million Settlement in Omega Leach Strangulation Death at Chad Youth Enhancement Center
The family of a Philadelphia teenager who was strangled after being placed in a restraint hold at a Tennessee treatment center has settled a federal lawsuit against the facility for $10.5 million.
The family of Omega "Manny" Leach, 17, agreed to drop claims against the city and its Department of Human Services, which sent the troubled teen to the Chad Youth Enhancement Center despite warnings that it was dangerous.
A key piece of evidence, said family attorney Thomas R. Kline, was a photograph from a surveillance camera showing a Chad mental-health technician with both hands around Leach's neck as he pinned him to the floor.
Tennessee authorities ruled Leach's death a homicide, but the mental-health worker, Randall Rae, has not been charged with a crime.
Rae no longer works at Chad, and Philadelphia stopped sending emotionally troubled children there shortly after Leach's 2007 death.
*****
Chad, now the Oak Plains Academy, has been owned by Universal Health Services Inc., a for-profit company based in King of Prussia, since 2005. Leach's family agreed to drop the suit against UHS.
Daniel Sherry, an attorney for Chad and UHS, said the settlement, which was completed last Friday, did not include an admission of wrongdoing.
Related Stories:
TN Handle With Care
Thursday, February 11, 2010
PA: Lawsuit Filed in YMCA Alum Abuse Case
NOTE: For more information on this story, please see this related article, from last year:
PA: Parents hire attorney to investigate alleged child abuse at daycare center
Excerpt from HeraldStandard.com:By Patti Yauger
SOUTH CONNELLSVILLE - Several area parents have filed a civil lawsuit against five YMCA Child Development Center workers who allegedly gave pickling salt to their children as a form of discipline.
Through their legal counsel - attorneys Alan Perer and Brian W. DelVecchio of the Pittsburgh law firm of Swensen Perer & Kontos - parents Brian and Janean Ansell, Shannon Partridge, Jessica Harr, Rodney and Lori Humbertson, Amber Doppelheur, Ryan Timms and Hillary Hamborsky have requested that a jury hear the matter on behalf of their children.
Named as defendants in the lawsuit are five employees, including Stephanie Griffith, Kristen Homes, Ann Lancaster, Derek Hillen and Kerri Trich, along with their employer, the Regional Family YMCA of Laurel Highlands and the National Council of Young Men's Christian Associations of the United States of America.
According to the court document, day-care center assistant group supervisor Rebecca DeWitt shared a conversation with Partridge that revealed Griffin had given a 6-year-old child alum as a means of discipline in January 2009.
Alum is a pickling salt that when ingested causes a burning sensation in the mouth or stomach, diarrhea, vomiting, loss of appetite, nausea and choking. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it also is corrosive upon ingestion.
Alum may cause expressions of fear and behavioral changes in young children when exposed to the substance as adverse stimuli, the court document states.
When Partridge questioned her two children about any incidents involving the pickling salt, she was told that a white powder had been given to them and that "it hurt their mouth."
In the court document, Partridge said that her children had experienced unexplained stomach pain, vomiting and other ailments. One of the children had also experienced nightmares.
*******
The lawsuit charges each of the employees and the national and local YMCA with negligence, assault and battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress and negligent infliction of emotional distress.
DelVecchio said the lawsuit was filed after the YMCA failed to fully acknowledge the workers' abuse of the youngsters.
***********
Fayette County Court Judge Steve P. Leskinen has been assigned the case.
The defendants have 20 days to file a response.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
PA: Delaware Valley School District to Pay $815,859 in Student Molestation Case
Excerpt from PRWeb.com:
Pike County, PA (PRWEB) January 11, 2010 -- The Delaware Valley School District and its insurer have agreed to pay $815,859 to a former elementary school student who was sexually abused by her teacher. The lawsuit (Civil action # 08-CV-581) filed on behalf of the Freeman family by Jack Cohen, Esquire, of Levy, Baldante, Finney, Rubenstein, Cohen & Chizmar, P.C. contends that school officials, including former Principal Robert L. Smith and former Superintendent James Melody, and current Superintendent Dr. Candis Finan, failed to heed numerous warnings about the teacher's conduct. The student, now 18-years-old, suffers from a multitude of psychological and social concerns.
The former student, identified as SF in the lawsuit, was a 7-year-old at Shohola Elementary School when she was sexually abused by Thomas Harvey Matthews, 51, her third grade teacher. Several years earlier the District had knowledge and documentation of Matthews' inappropriate behavior toward several students and one teacher but "failed to take necessary action", according to Cohen as stated in the civil suit filed in The United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.
In 2000, four years after the alleged incident with SF, a female student of Matthews' came forward with allegations of sexual abuse. Later that year the District agreed to actively conceal Matthews' unlawful conduct in exchange for his alleged "voluntary resignation", and was even offered employment verification for a new teaching position in Virginia. Says Cohen, "All of these actions by the District and its officials demonstrate a clear evidence of deliberate indifference of the victims to the heinous actions of Matthews."
In the criminal case against Matthews in 2006, Matthews was sentenced to eleven and one-half years to twenty-four years for crimes committed against his former students. The sentence provides that he will serve his time in a state correctional institution. Prior to the sentence, Matthews was also held as a "sexually violent predator" under Pennsylvania's version of Meghan's Law.
The civil case, which was settled on December 17, 2009 (Civil action # 08-CV-581) in the United States District Court, Middle District of Pennsylvania, concludes that the district, principal and superintendents should have taken immediate action against Matthews.
The lawsuit is the latest in a series of suits against school districts alleging that the districts knew or should have known of potential sexual abuse and failed to investigate the allegations adequately. "This case was especially egregious because there were so many signs that Matthews was a predator to the young children at the school," says Cohen, "The District, responsible for the caring of these children, did absolutely nothing to protect them from this monster. As parents we trust our school administrators and principals will act in our children's best interests, yet sadly this does not always happen, and this case is a perfect example of what happens when those in charge turn a blind eye."
"Principals and administrators want to believe it couldn't happen in their town," said Cohen. "Schools need to be vigilant, and hopefully this settlement will lead to increased programming for teachers and administrators."
The former student's parents, Karen and Matthew Freeman called on the superintendent and the school board to raise public awareness of the problem.
"The suit was never about financial compensation," said Mrs. Freeman. "Rather, we believe it was a necessary vehicle to raise the district's consciousness toward issues concerning the manipulation of power by a teacher over his or her students and the failure of administrators and the district to recognize and report such an abuse of power."
To read the article in its entirety, please click the following link: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2010/01/prweb3430514.htm
Sunday, January 10, 2010
PA/DE: Many missed horrors of Dr. Earl Bradley's alleged sex abuse
Excerpt from DelawareOnline.com:
By Chris Barrish
January 10, 2010
Despite suspicions, no action was taken
Pediatrician Earl Bradley's strange behavior, especially with the young girls he treated, became known in recent years to many medical professionals, police and prosecutors.
At Beebe Medical Center in Lewes, administrators knew police had investigated him in 2005.
Doctors who worked with him were told by parents of Bradley's former patients that he forced reluctant girls to undress, performed long vaginal exams and took girls alone to get treats. One doctor didn't mince words with police, calling Bradley a pedophile.
Workers in the Lewes and Milford offices of his BayBees Pediatrics knew he kissed, hugged and cuddled girls. An office manager said Bradley took antidepressants from the office and told police she wrote a letter about his problems to the Medical Society of Delaware.
Police had tried since at least 2005 to build a criminal case against Bradley. They documented his questionable behavior and reputation in reports that were not made public until last week about Bradley, 56, who was charged in December with raping nine girls since August -- eight of whom he videotaped. Authorities said there could be 100 victims.
As allegations piled up over nearly five years, though, unaware parents kept sending their girls and boys to his one-man, Disney-themed medical practice, which drew patients from nearby resorts and distant farming towns.
Yet no one in the medical or law enforcement communities did what Delaware law mandates -- put their observations and suspicions in writing to the Delaware Board of Medical Practice, which investigates physician misconduct. Failure to report such behavior, which the law deems an "affirmative duty," can bring a fine of $250 to $5,000.
If even one had followed the law, the 16-member board's medical professionals and lay persons would have had to investigate, and if warranted, discipline him publicly.
Though police said officers questioned Bradley in 2005 about kissing a toddler, he grew bolder and his alleged crimes, many of which he filmed, became brutal.
*****
After his arrest, police searched his office and said they found haunting videotapes of rapes against eight girls on a computer flash drive -- all since August.
In one, he had intercourse with a girl between 2 and 3 who was naked from the waist down, police said. In another, he forced a girl 3 to 6 months old to perform oral sex while the baby "screams and resists.''
For the full article, please click the following link: http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20100110/NEWS01/1100367
Friday, December 11, 2009
PA: Editorial: No justice, no peace
School district officials must act more aggressively to reduce tension and ensure safety at South Philadelphia High School, which has been rocked by racial attacks on Asian students.
Superintendent Arlene Ackerman was slow to publicly respond to the first major crisis in her administration. Now, she must work harder to reassure anxious students and parents that racist violence won't be tolerated.
In heart-wrenching testimony Wednesday before the School Reform Commission, Asian students painted an ugly picture of hostility against them by African American students that has been rampant for some time.
Even more troubling, they said the problem extended beyond fellow students to school staff, who allegedly not only turned a blind eye to the verbal and physical abuse by black students, but even encouraged the assaults and hurled racial slurs.
In at least five separate attacks last week, inside the school and on nearby streets, 30 students were assaulted, and at least seven landed in the hospital. The student body - 70 percent black and 18 percent Asian - has a serious race problem.
Afraid for their safety, about 50 Asian students boycotted school this week, missing out on instruction time to send a strong message to the district. Given the district's tardiness, they say they are also working on their own solutions.
Meanwhile, the district will announce a new safety plan today that calls for additional security officers, counselors, and translators at the school to facilitate easier reporting by students and peer mediation. The district is also wisely looking beyond South Philadelphia High by appointing a district-wide racial and cultural task force, and implementing a U.S. Justice Department program to help students deal with racial and ethnic divisiveness.
Those are welcome moves, which should not have been delayed by Ackerman's letting days pass before commenting on the situation. By not publicly addressing the racial violence for nearly a week, she gave the impression that it was not a priority.
The superintendent planned to finally visit the school today. "We're going to make it right," she said, "There's no tolerance for violence."
But her late visit may do little to reassure wary students that it will be safe to return to school next week. Ackerman should meet with everyone, from the janitors to the principal, to make sure they understand that the high school's environment of hostility must change.
In her remarks at Wednesday's SRC meeting, Ackerman said the violence was a reflection of the racism that exists in the larger community as well. Absolutely, which is why administrators must be sensitive to the plight of all of the minority groups in their schools that look to them for protection.
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
PA: Student held, beaten by school cops
December 9, 2009
By VALERIE RUSS
Philadelphia Daily News
russv@phillynews.com 215-854-5987
By VALERIE RUSS
Philadelphia Daily News
russv@phillynews.com 215-854-5987
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/homepage/78847562.html?cmpid=15585797
A Frankford High School star football player allegedly beaten by two Philadelphia school police officers in October was held down by one officer and beaten by the other, the school's athletic director alleged in an e-mail obtained by the Daily News.
"As a Philadelphia teacher for 35 years I am ashamed at the way one of our children was treated by a School District Task Force Policeman," Jack Creighton, who is also chair of the school's health, safety and physical education department, wrote on Oct. 30 in an e-mail sent to district Superintendent Arlene C. Ackerman and other district officials.
Jeffione Thomas, an 18-year-old junior, was still 17 on Oct. 29, when an encounter with the police truancy officers landed him in the hospital with a black eye, broken blood vessels in his left eye, cuts to his lips and several loosened teeth.
"My jaw still hurts when I eat," Thomas said yesterday.
Friends and relatives said the two officers assaulted Thomas shortly after the 5-foot-8, 170-pound running back walked into the school, on Oxford Avenue near Wakeling Street.
But it was Thomas who was charged with assault. He faces a juvenile hearing on Monday.
Thomas' defense attorney, Fortunato N. Perri, said he would ask the court to postpone the hearing.
"We're going to ask the D.A. to take a long, hard look at the case because . . . we feel that Jeffione is innocent and should never have been charged," Perri said. "We believe the truant officers completely overreacted under the circumstances."
Thomas said that he had overslept and was walking to school after getting off a SEPTA bus when the officers told him to get into a truancy van. Friends said he told the officers "I'm already late," and continued to walk into school.
Joyce Freeman, Thomas' grandmother, said she saw a copy of the subpoenaed surveillance videotape that shows Thomas casually walking into the school and the two truancy police officers "running inside the school after him. . . . "
"He was just walking in like it was a normal day and they ran up behind him," Freeman said. "They were the ones running. He walked in. He didn't know anyone was behind him."
In the e-mail, Creighton said that the officers' "use of extreme force was uncalled for" and urged those investigating the incident to "not let the LIES and false statements damage this young man any more than the officers fists already have.
"I know that School District Police must support one of their own, but the truth must be heard," the e-mail continued. "Please, as our leader, make sure that this student's beating is not washed over with untruths and that the bully that did this is not allowed to do it to some other child."
Creighton, who did not provide the e-mail, could not be reached for comment.
The district has said it was investigating the incident.
The president of the school police officers union, Michael Lodise, could not be reached for comment last night.
Freeman said that Thomas, who had spent time in the Glen Mills disciplinary school when he was 15 after previous run-ins with the law, has turned his life around and has made a good impression at Frankford.
"The wrestling coach just called me today and told me they want Jeffione to be on the wrestling team," Freeman said yesterday.
Thomas, who said that colleges have expressed interest in him, missed three football games after he was injured in the incident with school police. He returned to play the final game of the season against North Catholic on Thanksgiving.
Meanwhile, Greg Brinkley, president of the Philadelphia chapter of the National Action Network, the New York-based organization headed by the Rev. Al Sharpton, said he may be traveling to New York to brief Sharpton about the case as early as Saturday.
Furthermore, he said the group wants the city's Department of Human Services to investigate the alleged beating of Thomas as child abuse.
"If a child comes to school and they appear to be abused or beaten, the school will contact DHS and investigate the parent or guardian," Brinkley said. "We want them [DHS] to do the same thing when it comes to a child who is injured by the school's staff."
A Frankford High School star football player allegedly beaten by two Philadelphia school police officers in October was held down by one officer and beaten by the other, the school's athletic director alleged in an e-mail obtained by the Daily News.
"As a Philadelphia teacher for 35 years I am ashamed at the way one of our children was treated by a School District Task Force Policeman," Jack Creighton, who is also chair of the school's health, safety and physical education department, wrote on Oct. 30 in an e-mail sent to district Superintendent Arlene C. Ackerman and other district officials.
Jeffione Thomas, an 18-year-old junior, was still 17 on Oct. 29, when an encounter with the police truancy officers landed him in the hospital with a black eye, broken blood vessels in his left eye, cuts to his lips and several loosened teeth.
"My jaw still hurts when I eat," Thomas said yesterday.
Friends and relatives said the two officers assaulted Thomas shortly after the 5-foot-8, 170-pound running back walked into the school, on Oxford Avenue near Wakeling Street.
But it was Thomas who was charged with assault. He faces a juvenile hearing on Monday.
Thomas' defense attorney, Fortunato N. Perri, said he would ask the court to postpone the hearing.
"We're going to ask the D.A. to take a long, hard look at the case because . . . we feel that Jeffione is innocent and should never have been charged," Perri said. "We believe the truant officers completely overreacted under the circumstances."
Thomas said that he had overslept and was walking to school after getting off a SEPTA bus when the officers told him to get into a truancy van. Friends said he told the officers "I'm already late," and continued to walk into school.
Joyce Freeman, Thomas' grandmother, said she saw a copy of the subpoenaed surveillance videotape that shows Thomas casually walking into the school and the two truancy police officers "running inside the school after him. . . . "
"He was just walking in like it was a normal day and they ran up behind him," Freeman said. "They were the ones running. He walked in. He didn't know anyone was behind him."
In the e-mail, Creighton said that the officers' "use of extreme force was uncalled for" and urged those investigating the incident to "not let the LIES and false statements damage this young man any more than the officers fists already have.
"I know that School District Police must support one of their own, but the truth must be heard," the e-mail continued. "Please, as our leader, make sure that this student's beating is not washed over with untruths and that the bully that did this is not allowed to do it to some other child."
Creighton, who did not provide the e-mail, could not be reached for comment.
The district has said it was investigating the incident.
The president of the school police officers union, Michael Lodise, could not be reached for comment last night.
Freeman said that Thomas, who had spent time in the Glen Mills disciplinary school when he was 15 after previous run-ins with the law, has turned his life around and has made a good impression at Frankford.
"The wrestling coach just called me today and told me they want Jeffione to be on the wrestling team," Freeman said yesterday.
Thomas, who said that colleges have expressed interest in him, missed three football games after he was injured in the incident with school police. He returned to play the final game of the season against North Catholic on Thanksgiving.
Meanwhile, Greg Brinkley, president of the Philadelphia chapter of the National Action Network, the New York-based organization headed by the Rev. Al Sharpton, said he may be traveling to New York to brief Sharpton about the case as early as Saturday.
Furthermore, he said the group wants the city's Department of Human Services to investigate the alleged beating of Thomas as child abuse.
"If a child comes to school and they appear to be abused or beaten, the school will contact DHS and investigate the parent or guardian," Brinkley said. "We want them [DHS] to do the same thing when it comes to a child who is injured by the school's staff."
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Breaking News: 3rd County Judge Charged with Corruption
Breaking news from KWY Newsradio: http://www.kyw1060.com/pages/5801715.php?contentType=4&contentId=5154532
December 2, 2009
A third judge in northeastern Pennsylvania has been charged with corruption on the bench.
Federal prosecutors on Wednesday filed fraud and tax charges against Luzerne County judge Michael Toole (above). Court documents indicate he will plead guilty.
Prosecutors say Toole "corruptly abused" his position by concealing his financial relationship with an attorney who appeared before him in court. They say the 49-year-old judge "improperly ruled" in the attorney's favor in an arbitration case.
Two other Luzerne County judges were charged in January with accepting millions of dollars in kickbacks to place youth offenders in privately owner detention centers.
A total of 20 people have been charged this year in a wide-ranging federal corruption probe in Luzerne County.
Federal prosecutors on Wednesday filed fraud and tax charges against Luzerne County judge Michael Toole (above). Court documents indicate he will plead guilty.
Prosecutors say Toole "corruptly abused" his position by concealing his financial relationship with an attorney who appeared before him in court. They say the 49-year-old judge "improperly ruled" in the attorney's favor in an arbitration case.
Two other Luzerne County judges were charged in January with accepting millions of dollars in kickbacks to place youth offenders in privately owner detention centers.
A total of 20 people have been charged this year in a wide-ranging federal corruption probe in Luzerne County.
Saturday, November 21, 2009
PA: Death of disabled man at Krol center remains a mystery
IT WAS after midnight in mid-April, and Greg Harlen would not stop screaming in his room at the Cardinal Krol Center.
Harlen, 52, a resident of the Philadelphia Archdiocese-run home for mentally handicapped men, was lying in his bed, writhing in pain.
Both of his hips had been shattered.
Later that morning, staffers decided to call 9-1-1. Harlen, who had Down syndrome, was taken to Springfield Hospital - nearly 20 hours after he is believed to have suffered a mysterious trauma that broke his hips.
He died in the hospital about a month later of complications from his injuries.
"I can't imagine the pain he was in," said Harlen's sister, Sheila Phelan. "I don't understand why they didn't send him to the hospital long before they did."
Harlen's death has renewed scrutiny of the center's operations, five years after the state Health Department released a scathing report that said the 131-bed home in Delaware County had failed to protect its residents from sexual abuse by another resident - and other serious violations.
"What's happening out there?" Phelan asked. "Is this normal, that people scream?"
Archdiocese spokeswoman Donna Farrell said she couldn't comment on Harlen's case because the investigation was ongoing.
"Greg's death was a real loss and hit everyone here very hard," she said.
It remains unclear how Harlen was injured, whether he was beaten by another person or fell. He was unable to speak afterward.
Harlen's family believes that he was assaulted by a caregiver there, but police are awaiting the neuropathology results from his autopsy before deciding whether to proceed with a criminal investigation.
Philadelphia's Department of Behavioral Health and Mental Retardation Services determined last month that Harlen, formerly of Northeast Philadelphia, should have been taken to the hospital sooner.
The department found that, "given the intensity and duration" of Harlen's crying on April 16 and 17 and other indications that he was in pain, "more timely action should have been taken by the agency to assess Mr. Harlen for injuries and necessary medical treatment."
Records show that the center, in Marple Township across from Ss. Peter and Paul Cemetery, has repeatedly been cited by the state in recent years for a range of violations, some of which are recurring.
Over the past year alone, the center's state-issued certification of compliance was temporarily revoked twice due to "serious substandard conditions" there.
"Many of them are very serious violations," said Jacqueline Beilharz, of the Disability Rights Network of Pennsylvania, a federally mandated nonprofit that seeks to protect the civil rights of people with disabilities.
Health Department inspectors have found that the center has failed to maintain complete medical records, properly train its staff, protect residents from physical abuse by other residents and conduct full background checks on some employees.
Kathy Perry, of the Arc of Delaware County, an advocacy group for people with disabilities, said her office has received several complaints about the center.
Sunday, November 15, 2009
PA: Ex-coach sentenced in abuse of teenager
By SARAH CASSI
The Express-Times
November 14, 2009
EASTON — The parents of a 14-year-old boy said Thursday they pray for the former Freemansburg-Bethlehem Township Athletic Association coach who tried to sexually assault their son.
In statements read in Northampton County Court, the victim's parents said they hope for the redemption of Daniel Schaefer, 44, of Bethlehem Township.
"I will never stop praying for you," the victim's mother said through tears.
Schaefer, wearing an orange prison jumpsuit and eyeglasses, cried throughout much of the sentencing.
"I don't believe I could ever be as kind as they are to you. I couldn't do what they're doing," Northampton County Judge Emil Giordano said.
Giordano then sentenced Schaefer to the maximum sentence, six to 15 years in state prison.
Giordano forbade Schaefer from having unsupervised contact with minors and banned him from coaching or visiting at any youth sports complex. He will also have to pay for his victim's counseling.
Schaefer will be required to register as a sex offender for 10 years under Pennsylvania's version of Megan's Law once he is released.
Schaefer was arrested in October 2008 after reports he molested the boy from January through June 2008 at Schaefer's home.
He pleaded guilty to felony criminal attempt to commit aggravated indecent assault and misdemeanor corruption of a minor.
"I am truly sorry for what I have done and I will get the help that I need," Schaefer said as he cried in court.
The victim was not in the courtroom Thursday, but his parents spoke about the difficult road their son has faced since the abuse, including students at school talking about him and taunting him.
"I'm different now," the victim wrote in a statement read by his mother in court. "I hate thinking people I don't even know are talking about me."
The victim's mother said her son went from having an innocent and carefree attitude, to becoming dark, angry and withdrawn. "No child should have to suffer this way," the victim's mother said.
Schaefer left his position as coach for the athletic group's Junior Legion baseball team about a month before his arrest. He resigned from his post as vice president of the Lehigh Valley Junior Legion Baseball League a week before he was charged.
Schaefer also served as a junior varsity coach at Liberty High School for 12 years, former Liberty coach Harry Dudeck said Thursday at the sentencing.
"He was a very positive influence in the lives of those young men," Dudeck said.
The Express-Times
November 14, 2009
EASTON — The parents of a 14-year-old boy said Thursday they pray for the former Freemansburg-Bethlehem Township Athletic Association coach who tried to sexually assault their son.
In statements read in Northampton County Court, the victim's parents said they hope for the redemption of Daniel Schaefer, 44, of Bethlehem Township.
"I will never stop praying for you," the victim's mother said through tears.
Schaefer, wearing an orange prison jumpsuit and eyeglasses, cried throughout much of the sentencing.
"I don't believe I could ever be as kind as they are to you. I couldn't do what they're doing," Northampton County Judge Emil Giordano said.
Giordano then sentenced Schaefer to the maximum sentence, six to 15 years in state prison.
Giordano forbade Schaefer from having unsupervised contact with minors and banned him from coaching or visiting at any youth sports complex. He will also have to pay for his victim's counseling.
Schaefer will be required to register as a sex offender for 10 years under Pennsylvania's version of Megan's Law once he is released.
Schaefer was arrested in October 2008 after reports he molested the boy from January through June 2008 at Schaefer's home.
He pleaded guilty to felony criminal attempt to commit aggravated indecent assault and misdemeanor corruption of a minor.
"I am truly sorry for what I have done and I will get the help that I need," Schaefer said as he cried in court.
The victim was not in the courtroom Thursday, but his parents spoke about the difficult road their son has faced since the abuse, including students at school talking about him and taunting him.
"I'm different now," the victim wrote in a statement read by his mother in court. "I hate thinking people I don't even know are talking about me."
The victim's mother said her son went from having an innocent and carefree attitude, to becoming dark, angry and withdrawn. "No child should have to suffer this way," the victim's mother said.
Schaefer left his position as coach for the athletic group's Junior Legion baseball team about a month before his arrest. He resigned from his post as vice president of the Lehigh Valley Junior Legion Baseball League a week before he was charged.
Schaefer also served as a junior varsity coach at Liberty High School for 12 years, former Liberty coach Harry Dudeck said Thursday at the sentencing.
"He was a very positive influence in the lives of those young men," Dudeck said.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
PA: Luzerne officials deny knowing of abuse
WILKES-BARRE - To the frequent frustration and occasional exasperation of a special panel investigating judicial corruption in Luzerne County, yesterday's testimony gave off the steady and unmistakable sound of the buck being passed.
Phrases like "I was not aware," "Yes, but," and "It was not my responsibility" wafted from the witness chair as officials who oversee the county's courts denied knowing that thousands of adolescents were being locked away, often for petty offenses, after hearings in which they had been effectively denied lawyers.
When Luzerne County District Attorney Jacqueline Musto Carroll challenged the 11 members of the state-appointed Interbranch Commission on Juvenile Justice to "tell me what you do when you have a judge who is a crook," she was promptly interrupted by the questioner-in-chief.
"You report him," interjected John M. Cleland, the commission chairman and a judge on the state Superior Court.
Cleland and his fellow panelists have until May 31 to discover how two former judges, Mark A. Ciavarella Jr. and Michael T. Conahan, managed to get away with what federal prosecutors say was a five-year, $2.8 million kickback conspiracy, a scheme that one juvenile-justice advocacy group called "one of the largest and most serious violations of children's rights in the history of the American legal system."
Musto Carroll said she was unaware that more than half the teenagers whose cases came before Ciavarella did not have legal representation. She said the judge's "zero-tolerance" policy was a result of the 1999 Columbine High School shootings.
"I think Judge Ciavarella was probably doing what he thought he ought to do," the district attorney testified. "I have heard in a number of cases, what he did actually straightened out kids' lives. Some went on to get scholarships and college educations."
That brought an angry response from panel member Robert L. Listenbee, head of the juvenile unit of the Defender Association of Philadelphia. "Ms. Carroll, I remind that you and I as attorneys took an oath to uphold the Constitution. There were children here whose basic constitutional rights were being violated every day. Let's keep that in mind."
Lawyer Kenneth J. Horoho Jr., a commissioner from Pittsburgh, offered a litany of questions about Musto Carroll's having not known or questioned Ciavarella's methods. Horoho concluded, "The bottom line is that 'zero tolerance' went unchallenged by your office."
"Don't worry about Luzerne County," Musto Carroll assured the commission. "As long as I'm here, it's in good hands."
Yesterday's first witness was David W. Lupas, Musto Carroll's predecessor as district attorney and now a county judge, who said that none of his assistants ever brought concerns about Ciavarella's conduct to his attention.
Panel member Dwayne D. Woodruff - the head juvenile judge in Allegheny County, and a former Pittsburgh Steelers safety - noted that 54 percent of the children brought before Ciavarella did not have lawyers. "Would you expect your assistant D.A.s to come to you with that?" Woodruff asked.
"No one came to me," Lupas said.
Cleland interjected, "I could understand a case here and a case there. But 6,000 cases? This went on for years, and it was a massive deprivation of rights. No assistant D.A., no public defender, no private lawyer ever raised a question? That's hard to believe."
Basil G. Russin, who has been chief public defender in Luzerne County since 1980, said that even if he had known the extent of Ciavarella's denial of rights to juvenile defendants, he would not have had many options. "We don't have the time or the money to look into things very deeply. We just do the best we can," he said.
Besides, Russin said, the judges' get-tough stance against juvenile misbehavior had wide public support.
"Everybody loved it. The schools loved it because they got rid of every problem kid. The parents loved it because there were kids they couldn't control. The cops loved it because it got kids off the streets, and the D.A. loved it because they were getting convictions."
In earlier testimony, Sandra Brulo, a former Luzerne County probation official, said she had raised concerns about Ciavarella with her boss, but did not hear back.
"Don't you think you should have taken it further when you didn't get any satisfaction from your supervisor?" asked Ronald P. Williams, a panel member from nearby Wyoming County, raising his arms in amazement.
"I took it to my boss," Brulo replied. "That's as far as I thought I should go."
She testified that probation officers, not attorneys, asked young defendants to sign forms just before they entered Ciavarella's courtroom that waived their right to a lawyer. Commissioner George D. Mosee, a deputy Philadelphia district attorney, asked Brulo if this was a proper role for probation officers.
"We did what the judge instructed us to do," she said.
"Even when their very liberty was at stake?" Mosee asked. Brulo did not answer.
Joseph Massa, senior counsel for the state Judicial Conduct Board, which investigates complaints against judges, told the panel that his agency had acted properly more than two years ago when it referred allegations it received against Ciavarella and Conahan to federal prosecutors.
By not acting on its own, the board allowed the jurists to stay on the bench until they resigned this year. The judges stepped down after a federal grand jury indicted them on racketeering, bribery and fraud charges.
"To allege the [Judicial Conduct Board] members put their heads in the proverbial sand while juveniles in this county were sent to the hoosegow is a disgrace," Massa told the panel.
Ciavarella is accused of taking bribes from operators of two for-profit detention centers in return for sending children to the centers. Conahan is accused of securing lucrative contracts for the private jails, which the state paid according to the numbers of inmates they housed.
Once the scheme was set up, prosecutors say, Ciavarella guaranteed that the jails were filled with a steady stream of juvenile offenders.
Ciavarella and Conahan are awaiting trial. They initially pleaded guilty but withdrew their pleas after a federal judge rejected the terms of their plea agreements.
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