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/
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
MO: Girl, 16, Dies During Restraint at an Already Troubled Hospital
BY BLYTHE BERNHARD • bbernhard@post-dispatch.com > 314-340-8129 AND JEREMY KOHLER • jkohler@post-dispatch.com > 314-340-8337 ©2010, St. Louis Post-Dispatch | Posted: Sunday, August 1, 2010 10:00 am |
The charge nurse found Alexis Evette Richie alone in a small room at SSM DePaul Health Center, motionless and sprawled facedown on a bean bag chair.
Minutes earlier, the 16-year-old foster child had tried to hit, scratch and bite staff members in the adolescent psychiatric ward. Two aides grabbed her arms and took her down a hall and into a small room called the "quiet room."
They held her facedown in the chair while a nurse injected a sedative into her hip. Alexis continued to struggle and then went limp.
The nurse and the two aides left without checking her pulse or making sure she was breathing.
Charge nurse Iris Blanks checked on her minutes later and didn't think Alexis looked right. An aide helped Blanks roll the girl over. Alexis wasn't breathing. Her pulse was faint.
It was 12 minutes after she stopped moving before anyone tried to revive Alexis. By then it was too late.
"Why did they leave her like that?" Blanks wailed over the phone to her daughter that night, according to a police report.
The "little girl," she said, "didn't have to die."
The medical examiner agreed, concluding that Alexis had suffocated on the bean bag chair. Her death on Oct. 26 was ruled a homicide.
For the full article, please follow the link: http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/article_4a10ccdd-5d08-52bd-bfc5-c435014aa09b.html?mode=story
VA: Autism Teacher Charged With Child Cruelty
August 3, 2010
By Kenny Gamble
http://www.wusa9.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=106232&catid=158
Centreville, Va. (WUSA) - A pre-school autism teacher has been suspended pending charges of child cruelty and a lesser charge of child abuse, according to Fairfax County Police.
Police said Jennah Christine Billeter, of Fairfax, physically assaulted and mistreated two boys, ages four and five, who were assigned to her class at Deer Park Elementary School, in the Centreville area.
School officials said they suspended Billeter the moment they found out about the charges. Officials said they immediately launched an investigation as a result of the allegations.
Billeter is charged with one count of misdemeanor assault and two charges of felony cruelty to children.
Anyone with more information is encouraged to contact Crime Solvers at (866) 411-TIPS (8477), or call Fairfax County Police at (703) 691-2131.
You can find more information at www.fairfaxcrimesolvers.org.
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
Friday, July 30, 2010
Announcement: Justice4Children Internet Radio Show 7/30/10
Forwarded Message from Theresa Edwards:
PLEASE JOIN ME, THERESA EDWARDS ON
FRIDAY 30 JULY 2010 AT 8 PM - 10 PM EST
THE TOLL FREE PHONE NUMBER IS
1-646-716-8675
OUR GUESTS TONIGHT WILL BE SARAH WILCOX OF B&B CARE SERVICES, ALONG WITH REPRESENTATIVES FROM OTHER ORGANIZATIONS THAT HELP FAMILIES WITH FINANCIAL AID TO OBTAIN SERVICES, AND ITEMS TO BENEFIT OUR CHILDREN.
CALL IN TO SEE IF THEY CAN HELP YOU AND YOUR CHILD(REN).
Let's talk and Come Together.
Our Children Need Our Help and Co-operation.
If you have any announcements that you would like to have put out on the air please submit them to me at hedwards08@comcast.net
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
VA: Washington Post Article Highlights Alleged Sexual Predator; Abuse World-wide, Goes Back Decades
Author's Note: The Washington Post has published an article about alleged sexual predator Kevin Ricks. Ricks has allegedly sexually abused boys and documented his exploits in journals, photos, and videos.
Below is an excerpt:
Kevin Ricks' career as teacher, tutor shows pattern of abuse that goes back decades
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Kevin Ricks was a gregarious, well-traveled English teacher at Osbourn High School, a Walt Whitman devotee who was so popular that a photo of him in class was chosen to fill the opening page of the yearbook. A writer and photographer himself, Ricks would walk the halls of the Manassas school with a leather-bound journal of his musings tucked in his bag, next to his laptop computer.
What teachers, parents, students and even his wife didn't know was that his journals contained decades of dark secrets, a running handwritten commentary of Ricks's world of obsession, infatuation, pursuit, sexual abuse and international child exploitation.
They didn't know about his library of homemade pornographic videos and explicit photographs capturing his tequila-soaked sex acts with teenage boys he had handpicked. They didn't know about the makeshift shrine boxes containing mementos of the episodes, including sex toys, soiled tissues and hair trimmings.
Even some of the victims didn't know they were victims.
A four-month Washington Post investigation of Ricks's career as a teacher, tutor, foreign exchange host and camp counselor has revealed a pattern of abuse that dates to at least 1978 and has left a trail of victims spanning the globe. But despite the abuse, Ricks moved from one teaching job to the next over nearly 30 years, navigating the nation's public and private school systems undetected, evading traps designed to catch him.
For the full article, please follow this link:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/24/AR2010072402605.html
India: Partha De "Determined to Stop the Menace of Corporal Punishment at Any Cost" with New Complaint System
July 28, 2010
Corporal Punishment
(The Telegraph) Students and parents can soon complain about corporal punishment directly to the state government through SMS and email under a separate set of rules meant to ensure that teachers spare the rod.
“We are determined to stop the menace of corporal punishment at any cost. No teacher will be allowed to inflict physical and mental torture on students,” declared school education minister Partha De following a series of meetings through the day to finalise the draft of the proposed rules.
The rules, including “direct government intervention” based on complaints filed by guardians and students with the authorities, will be binding on all schools affiliated to the state board.
************
“There can be no excuse for beating up a student. When a teacher is appointed, he/she needs to make a declaration not to impose any kind of physical or mental torture on students. The new set of rules aims to ensure that under no circumstance can a teacher break that oath,” said De.
To read the full article, please follow the link: http://news.icbse.com/complain-corporal-punishment-email-sms-482#ixzz0v15Sjs00
IL: PBIS in Harvard Park Elementary School
July 28, 2010
By Jennifer Searcy
Founder/Director of Public Policy & Affairs
The Coalition for Positive Behavioral Interventions & Supports
Included in the Elementary School's PBIS policies are:
Child access to a "Safety Zone." This area allows children a "stress break" for up to 5 minutes, where children may "make positive decisions about their behavior" when they are feeling frustrated, angry, or overwhelmed.
"Gotchas." These certificates awarded to children when they are "caught" engaging in appropriate behaviors.
"Expectation Rotation Centers." This includes a walk-though of the school with demonstrations and modeling of appropriate behaviors in various environments within the school.
"Cool Tools." These skills and behaviors are taught to children, and include listening, showing respect, problem-solving, etc.
Monthly and quarterly celebrations are also held, in addition to teacher selection of "Student of the Week."
The "Behavior Expectations" brochure can be accessed here: http://www.springfield.k12.il.us/downloads/basic/86111/f_10385-149-ae1.pdf
The "Behavior Matrix" brochure can be found here: http://www.springfield.k12.il.us/downloads/basic/86112/f_10385-213-ca7.pdf
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