Child abuse investigator charged

Finally someone in this position being held accountable for their actions!  We need more cases like this...make people in public service do their jobs.  If they don’t want to do what is required of them for whatever reason then they need to find another freaking job.  I’m sick and tired of hearing about kids being killed AFTER investigations into their abuse have been done and closed.  I’m sick and tired of hearing about how the social workers involved did the best they could and are over worked.  I know they are, most people know they are over worked.  Something needs to change in how these cases are handled, investigated or something.

http://www.journaltimes.com/news/local/article_1bb6d242-7a40-11df-98aa-001cc4c002e0.html

Child abuse investigator charged with fabricating reports

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JANINE ANDERSON janine.anderson@journaltimes.com | Posted: Thursday, June 17, 2010 1:41 pm | (11) Comments

 

The six cases

The charges against fired child protective services investigator Todd O'Brien stem from six cases. Information was taken from the criminal complaint against him filed Thursday in Racine County Circuit Court.

- March-April 2008: The Human Services Department received a letter saying a woman with a day care sexually assaulted her younger sister and was mentally unstable. O'Brien was assigned to investigate, and reported he visited the woman's home and spoke to each child there. He found the allegations unsubstantiated. The woman told HSD officials this year that O'Brien had never come to her house.

- December 2008: A hospital told HSD that a baby had been born with marijuana in its system. O'Brien reported he found the home "modest, well-kept, fortified for children, with food, diapers, clothing, crib and other necessary items," and that he did not see any safety concerns. When investigators spoke to the woman this year, she said she never saw anyone from HSD after her child was born.

- January 2009: O'Brien investigated a report that a couple was physically abusing a child. O'Brien's report says he visited the home and spoke to the girl, who said she was not afraid of her step-father, and that he was a "nice guy." This year, the couple told investigators no one came to their house or interviewed them about abuse allegations.

- January 2009: A 17-year-old girl was treated at the hospital for scratches on her arm. O'Brien's report stated the girl had fought with her mother over a party the girl had thrown, and that there was no issue. He wrote he met with the girl and the mother at their home. During the follow-up investigation this year, the woman said no one from HSD had come to their home.

- January 2009: A student at the Mack Center reportedly had an injury to his face. O'Brien's report on the incident said he spoke to the boy and his mother at their home on Jan. 23, and that he had no injuries. In a follow-up investigation this year, the boy's mother said no one came to their home. School records show the boy was in school at the time O'Brien said he visited the home.

- September 2009: A school employee reported a 5-year-old boy had a bruise under his right eye. O'Brien's report said the boy told him he was wrestling with his father and brothers, and that there was an accident. His report stated the "child was happy" and the "clean and appropriate." The mother told investigators this year that no one from HSD came to her home or interviewed her or her son.

Todd P. O'Brien

Age: 37

Address: 9305 S. 29th St., Franklin

Charges: Six counts of misconduct in public office, making a fraudulent record or statement

Possible maximum penalty: Nine years prison and $60,000 fine plus 12 years extended supervision

Allegation: O’Brien was a veteran child protective services investigator for Racine County who allegedly made up reports showing he investigated claims of child abuse. The people he said he investigated later told officials that O’Brien never came to their homes to speak with them.

Related Stories

• Related: Fired investigator: withhold judgment until all facts available
• Related: COUNTY: INSTEAD OF INVESTIGATING CHILD ABUSE, WORKER FILED FALSE REPORTS

RACINE - A former Racine County Child Protective Services investigator was charged Thursday with fabricating reports in six cases where there were allegations of abuse against children.

Todd P. O'Brien, 37, of Franklin, is charged with six counts of misconduct in office for making a fraudulent record or statement. Each count carries a maximum possible penalty of 1 1/2 years in prison.

O'Brien was a veteran investigator with the Racine County Human Services Department when his work came under scrutiny earlier this year. He was subsequently fired by the county.

HSD began looking into his work in February after someone being considered as a possible placement for a child who needed a new place to live had a flag on their file from a previous investigation. HSD workers saw the person had been previously investigated for possible sexual abuse of a child, and asked the woman about it. She told them no one had ever spoken with her about anything like that. O'Brien's report from the 2008 allegations said he spoke with the woman and interviewed the children in her home. He found the allegations unsubstantiated.

After that incident, county officials looked into other cases where O'Brien determined an abuse suspicion was unsubstantiated and found five other cases where they suspected O'Brien fabricated information. In each of those cases his reports contained detailed information about interviews with people against whom abuse allegations had been made, but where the people involved said he never came to speak with them.

O'Brien made his initial appearance on the charges against him on Thursday. He remains out of custody on a $5,000 signature bond. If he violates the conditions of bond - including having no contact with any of the victims in the case and making all his court appearances - he would likely have to pay the full amount.

HSD has hired someone specifically to look into O'Brien's cases.

"Every case from 2007 forward we've pulled," said Kerry Milkie, manager of the youth and family division of the Racine County Human Services Department. "Any case that he worked alone is being assigned to this individual and he's making phone calls to those contacts to ensure from a quality assurance standpoint that A, those contacts happened, and B, the family received the service they needed and if they didn't, that they now receive that service."

HSD Director Jonathan Delagrave said they are being "very diligent and very careful" with regard to O'Brien's cases. Milkie said there are in excess of 250 cases that are being reviewed. No one has been hired to fill O'Brien's vacated position. The person who's looking into his other cases has been with the county for about a month, and has so far reviewed approximately 50 cases.

Delagrave said he was not ready to share what, if anything, the investigator has found, though expects the results of the investigation to be made public at some point.

Milkie said the department is taking this very seriously: "We're going to work until it's done, until it's resolved. We're going to ensure these families' needs are met."

In a previous statement through his attorney O'Brien asked people to withhold judgment until all the facts are available. The case is due in court next month for a preliminary

Let’s Look to the Animal World for Paternal Bonding

I found this article to be very interesting and thus wanted to share it with all of you...enjoy!

 

Paternal Bonds, Special and Strange

By NATALIE ANGIER

Published: June 14, 2010

Not long ago, Julia Fischer of the German Primate Center in Göttingen was amused to witness two of her distinguished male colleagues preening about a topic very different from the standard academic peacock points — papers published, grants secured, competitors made to look foolish.

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STATUS SYMBOL An adult male Barbary macaque at La Forêt des Singes, a zoo in Rocamadour, France, comforts an infant, and impresses his fellow males.

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“One of them said proudly, ‘I have three children,’ ” Dr. Fischer recalled. “The other one replied, ‘Well, I have four children.’

“Some men might talk about their Porsches,” she added. “These men were boasting about their number of children.” And while Dr. Fischer is reluctant to draw facile comparisons between humans and other primates, she couldn’t help thinking of her male Barbary macaques, for whom no display carries higher status, or is more likely to impress the other guys, than to strut around the neighborhood with an infant monkey in tow.

Reporting in the current issue of the journal Animal Behaviour, Dr. Fischer and her co-workers describe how male Barbary macaques use infants as “costly social tools” for the express purpose of bonding with other males and strengthening their social clout. Want to befriend the local potentate? Bring a baby. Need to reinforce an existing male-male alliance, or repair a frayed one? Don’t forget the baby.

It doesn’t matter if the infant is yours or not. Just so long as it has the downy black fur and wrinkly pinkish face that adult male macaques find impossible to resist. “They will hold up the infant like a holy thing, nuzzling it, chattering their teeth,” Dr. Fischer said. “It can be a bit bewildering to see.”

Just in time for Father’s Day come this and other recent studies that reveal surprising, off-road or vaguely unsettling cases of Males Behaving Dadly — attending to the young with an avidity and particularity long thought to be the province of the mother.

Scientists have learned, for example, that the male pipefish — which, like his seahorse relatives, famously becomes pregnant and gives birth to live young — is both more generous and more calculatedly harsh toward his offspring than previously believed, able to fine-tune the flow of nutrients to his gestating babies depending on how he feels about their mother.

In most species of birds, males and females take turns incubating the eggs and fetching insects for the fledglings. But among some large, flightless birds like emus and rheas, the male is often the sole keeper of the nest. Scientists now have evidence that such father-focused child care may represent the primordial avian program, one that dates back to the birds’ storied ancestors, the dinosaurs.

Why do males of some species attend to their offspring prolongedly, while others tend to spring off post-coitally? The reasons vary widely and are not always easy to discern.

In 90 percent of mammalian species, promiscuity is common and paternity uncertain; females gestate the young internally and then provision them with breast milk, and males rarely have any evolutionary incentive to play Ward Cleaver. Yet in that remaining 10 percent, the daddy decile, we find most of the world’s primates.

“Lots of primates are suckers for babies,” said Sarah Hrdy, the primatologist and author of “Mothers and Others” (Harvard University Press, 2009). Consider how the male of two small New World monkey species, the cotton-top tamarin and the common marmoset, reacts to a mate’s pregnancy.

His hormones change, the dendritic connections in his brain begin to change, and he puts on weight — all in preparation for the heavy lifting to come. Female marmosets and tamarins generally give birth to twins, which together weigh about 20 percent of what the father does, and from the moment the babies are born until they reach independence, the male will be expected to carry them most of the time. If he’s sitting, he’ll hold them on his lap. While he’s swinging through the trees, the twins will cling to the comforting thermal pads between his shoulder blades. If he hears the babies crying, he can’t help himself — he must fetch them and pick them up.

In a study that appeared in the American Journal of Primatology, Sofia Refetoff Zahed and her colleagues at the University of Wisconsin compared the responses of experienced fathers and inexperienced males when confronted with the sound of a fussy infant monkey coming from a distant cage.

Without exception, the experienced fathers would quickly cross a bridge to reach the source of the distress cry, arriving within 45 seconds. Inexperienced males, by contrast, took their time. A minute, five minutes, wah wah wah! Oh well, guess I’d better see what the problem is. Or not. In half the cases, the inexperienced males never made it to the stimulus cage before the experiment was up.

Marmosets and tamarins become dream daddies because their partners are queen bees of fecundity. A mother monkey can’t possibly handle the energetics of lugging around a pair of growing twins. Not when she is expected both to produce a double dose of milk and to become pregnant again roughly two weeks after giving birth.

“When I first started watching the monkeys, I thought the females were so mean,” said Ms. Zahed, who is working on her doctorate. “The infants would try to get food, to get whatever the mother had, and the mom would grab it back and go away. The dad, on the other hand, would give up his food and let the infants get away with anything.

“Then I got pregnant with my second child while I was still nursing the first,” she added. “Then I understood. You do get grouchy.”

In contrast to the obvious link between paternal care and offspring welfare seen in tamarins and marmosets, a male Barbary macaque’s fascination with infants can look less than kid-friendly. Once abundant throughout North Africa, but now limited to forest patches in Algeria and Morocco, these monkeys live in troops of some 30 animals, a mix of related adult females and unrelated adult males. Females give birth in the spring, and Dr. Fischer said, spring “is high season for infant dealing.”

Within days of being born, every infant is fair game for male pawings. “A male will approach a mother slowly,” Dr. Fischer said, “seize the moment, and take the infant.” He will carry the infant under his belly, or in his arms, and he’ll advance toward one or two other males and start to make nice.

“If they don’t have an infant, they can’t interact,” Dr. Fischer said. “There would be too much tension between them.” A male may hold on to an infant for hours at a stretch. If the baby starts to cry, he may take it back to the mother for a feeding, all the while hanging on to the ankle of his precious networking tool.

The researchers initially assumed that baby handling might have a tranquilizing effect on the males, but on measuring the macaques’ hormone levels, they found the opposite: carrying an infant caused a male’s stress hormones to spike. The scientists now propose that the males use the infants as “battle symbols,” as Dr. Fischer put it, “to show other males that they can bear the stress.”

What better proof of a worthy ally, who will not wilt come breeding season — when males must form coalitions to monopolize fertile females and help spawn the next generation of fuzzy handheld devices?

Nature may never have invented the wheel, but she’s the original wheeler-dealer and hedger of bets. The pouch of a male pipefish was long thought to be a passive incubator in which embryos could develop safely while feasting on yolky nutrients the mother had supplied. Recent research suggests that the male also infuses the pouch with plenty of food, not to mention regulating osmotic pressure, salinity and oxygen flow.

Paternal generosity does have its limits. In a report published in the March 18 issue of Nature, Kimberly A. Paczolt and Adam G. Jones of Texas A&M University showed that the pouch of a gulf pipefish is a staging ground for sexual barters and the occasional war.

Male pipefish like big females, and if they mate with a meaty one, they will lavish her eggs with abundant nutrients of their own. But if a male ends up mating with a lightweight because she was the best he could find, and midway through gestation a fatter female swims by, the male’s pouch knows what to do: abort or reabsorb a few existing embryos to use as food for the new.

Yes, fathers love to take charge, beat the odds, expand the nest. Reporting in the journal Science , David J. Varricchio of Montana State University and his colleagues offered evidence that for at least some species of birdlike carnivorous dinosaurs, fathers may have been the ones who cared for their young.

The researchers argued that to begin with, the repeated discovery of adult dinosaurs in close proximity to egg clutches indicated that dinosaurs didn’t just dump and dash, turtle style, but instead stuck around to protect the nest. What’s more, the total volume of each clutch was impressively large, suggesting input from more than one female.

Finally, the bones of the adults associated with the nests suggested that their owner might well have been male. A male that invited many females to mate with him and lay their heavy treasures in his nest. He was a good father. They had done their part. Now he would do the rest.

Custodial dad, step blamed dead girl's injuries on her mother--who hadn't seen her in months

This from Dastardly Dads

Custodial dad, step blamed dead girl's injuries on her mother--who hadn't seen her in months (Muncie, Indiana)

We just posted on this case earlier today, but this article provides additional information. This story is utterly sickening. Seems the custodial dad and step were busy blaming the mother for the child's abuse symptoms when the mother hadn't even seen the child in MONTHS and was in fact searching for her. And CPS BELIEVED the custodial dad and step! Unfortunately, in a political environment where mothers, especially single mothers, are trashed as the cause of all social ills, these kinds of lies have become much more believable and seemingly legitimate. Although it still seems to me that a lot of CPS employees need to be terminated NOW.

This reminds me of the Charlenni Ferreira case in Philadelphia. Last fall, Charlenni died in the home of her custodial father and step, and they pulled the same stunt: blaming the girl's injuries and health problems on her mother. Only one problem. The girl's mother lived in Puerto Rico and hadn't seen her child in months either. But nobody followed up those lies--not until it was too late.

http://dastardlydads.blogspot.com/2010/02/dhs-not-at-fault-for-abuse-death-of-10.html

http://www.thestarpress.com/article/20100616/NEWS01/6160321

Red flags not recognized during fatal neglect of Lauren McConniel
By SETH SLABAUGH • • June 16, 2010
MUNCIE -- In the months leading up to her death, 5-year-old Lauren McConniel was treated twice at Ball Memorial Hospital, once at Southway Urgent Care Center, once at St. Vincent Randolph Hospital in Winchester and three times at Merdian Services, a behavioral health care provider.
Despite staff seeing broken fingers, malnutrition, a head injury, weight loss, unusual vaginal appearance and bizarre behavior, only one of these professional caregivers called Child Protective Services (CPS), which was just a 1-800 telephone call away, police say.
Karen Royer -- a counselor at Meridian who reported that in all of her years of dealing with kids she had never heard of such bizarre behavior, and who believed the girl was being seriously sexually abused -- did contact CPS. Lauren looked exhausted, frail and fragile to Royer.
But that was on March 1, and the target of the sexual abuse allegation was not the girl's father, Ryan, or stepmother, Brittany, who had custody of Lauren. The target was Amber Huggins, the girl's natural mother who was living in Knoxville, Tenn. Huggins had last seen her daughter seven months earlier, when Lauren was in good health, and Huggins had been desperately searching for her.

By March 3, Lauren was hospitalized at Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis, where she developed seizures, respiratory failure and shock. She died there six days later.
"Child Protective Services was contacted by Karen Royer over allegations of sexual abuse that Ryan and Brittany made about the natural mother," said Muncie police Sgt. Jimmy Gibson. "The trouble is, Karen Royer believed Ryan and Brittany. They were believable. But I don't suspect the natural mom at all. The natural mom hadn't had contact with the child since August, and here this (allegation) was coming up in February and March. When the natural mom had custody of her, her weight was normal and the pictures showed she was healthy and happy."

And those weren't the only lies the McConniels told to caregivers, Gibson said. They also claimed that Lauren was being treated for malnutrition by a Winchester physician, who had never even seen her once.
Also, at Southway Urgent Care on Feb. 4, the McConniels presented themselves as rescuers of the child, claiming they had just recently obtained custody of the girl. "When questioned about the girl's weight, they acted concerned and blamed the natural mom," Gibson said. "And they were convincing."

Bill Gosnell, a nurse at Southway who treated Lauren, declined comment, saying, "This is going to trial."
On Dec. 8, Lauren was treated by physician Tom Mengelt in the emergency department at BMH for broken right fingers from jumping on the bed.
"I don't know why they didn't report that to (CPS)," Gibson said. "People don't want to believe that parents would hurt their kids that way. They think surely the parents care or they wouldn't bring a kid in with broken fingers."
The child was seen again at BMH on March 2 for a head injury caused by a fall. A clinical impression of malnutrition and behavioral problems was also noted during that visit. The hospital sent Lauren home after treatment including a CT scan.
On that same day, the McConniels took the child to Valle Vista Health Systems in Greenwood for psychiatric treatment (the couple were unable to contact Meridian).
Ellen Harrington, a counselor at Valle Vista, diagnosed the girl's problem as lack of supervision, failure to thrive, malnutrition and medical neglect. Harrington referred Lauren to Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis, where she was taken in the early morning hours of March 3. She died there on March 9.
"We can't comment regarding any specific patient or related processes, but we are cooperating fully with the investigation, and our hearts go out to the family," BMH spokesman Neil Gifford said.
Hank Milius, president of Meridian Services, said, "We at Meridian Services are deeply saddened by the death of Lauren McConniel. While privacy laws prevent us from commenting specifically on this case, in the event there is a suspected case of child abuse or neglect, Meridian staff are trained to make a report to the Indiana Department of Child Services."
Gibson credits Southway with referring Lauren to Meridian Services, and he credits Meridian Services for contacting CPS.
Under Indiana law, anyone who has reason to believe that a child is a victim of child abuse or neglect is required to report it.
Investigation ongoing

Police have not closed their investigation of the hospital's and Southway's failure to report the McConniels to CPS. Failing to report is a misdemeanor, Gibson said.
"Any red flag could be reported to us," said Ann Houseworth, a spokesman for the department of child services. "We would rather assess a situation that was not a case of abuse and neglect than not assess a situation and find that the child was placed in more harm."
The child abuse hotline is staffed 24 hours a day. If a child is in imminent danger of serious bodily harm, CPS is required by law to respond within an hour. If a child may be a victim of abuse, the agency must respond within 24 hours, and if a report of child neglect is made, the maximum response time by law is five days.
"If someone sees something that makes you wonder, you might want to ask questions to find out more," Houseworth said.
She declined comment on Lauren's death.
After Royer reported the suspected abuse of Lauren to CPS, "I believe CPS here contacted CPS in Tennessee, because that's where the allegations were," Gibson said. "Lauren was scheduled to be interviewed by SMART (Sexual Molestation and Abuse Response Team), me or (Sgt. Linda) Cook, on March 3. We were doing it as a courtesy for Tennessee. That's when she went into Riley. I wish I could have talked to her. I hate it that I didn't."
Police also haven't closed their investigation into other family members for failure to report.
Lauren's stepgrandparents Robert and Angie Lee and her step aunt Samra Lee shared a house at 2304 S. Ebright St. with the McConniels, Lauren and Lauren's older sister.
"There are a whole lot more family members (than the McConniels) who could be held accountable," Gibson said. "But how far do we go? Do we arrest everybody? We're behind on other cases and under-staffed."

Who Is Covering Up Murder Attempts In Williamsburg, VA

This story was passed to me with a note asking me to post it in its entirety.

Who Is Covering Up Murder Attempts In Williamsburg, VA

By:  Gail Lakritz

I have been told that Joseph Lakritz is being protected by someone higher up. Three policemen have confirmed that this is what is happening, and that is why a convinced felon can get away with so much. The Virginia Gazette published an article stating that an officer of the law informed them that the local family court judge, Judge George (Jeff) C. Fairbanks dictates who can and cannot be arrested in October, 2007. He is the former Commonwealth's Attorney, and as such, had control over prosecutions. I have spoken to one woman who was raped while he was the CA. He never brought the case to trial and waited until he was appointed judge (1 and 1/2 years) to inform her that there would be no prosecution.

Judge Fairbanks set up the Victims and Advocates Office within the CA's office. When a battered woman goes there with evidence of the battering, it is never seen again. Judge Fairbanks works with the parole department[i] and with Ann Tramer, the "counselor" who did family therapy which my ex and son went to but I was never informed of and who, at the time my son was seeing her, only had a masters, not her doctorate, yet she was allowed to practice. In addition, she was seeing him at the same time as Loren Council, who saw Joseph for Anger Management at Colonial Services (ordered by Judge Fairbanks) after he threatened to kill me. Mt. Council saw Joe in September, 2005 for 6 weeks in a group. He began seeing Max in March, 2006 or there about as supposedly ordered by Fairbanks, but I never heard the judge order this in the court. I tried to get the transcript of the hearing where it was supposedly ordered, but DuBois who supposedly did them, told me that they did not. Of course, I have the proof they did.

I bought a home in the summer of 2006. Just prior to moving, while living in an apartment on Merrimac Trail in Williamsburg, I began having break ins. There were 4 in total while I lived there. The Williamsburg police refuse to give me the reports that I filed. They say that they are still open investigations and will not release them to me. I reported 3 of the 4. My attorney, Tracy Spencer of Batzali Woods in Richmond told me to stop calling them, and I, thinking that she knew something I didn't, I took her advice. Each time my home was broken into, there was something left behind to let me know someone was there. The first time, I found a stick of incense which I have never used due to the fact that I cannot stand the odor. That time, my file cabinet where I kept the evidence against Joe was broken into and papers were taken, but nothing else of value was missing.

On May 12, 2006, we had an appointment for Barbara Levine of Prudential to view the house and sign the listing agreements. She was leaving town for a holiday, and this was the only time she could do this. Joe had allowed the sale listing of the house expire and made no attempt to relist it. I arrived at the house a few minutes before Barbara. There was a severe thunderstorm. The garage door was open, and I knocked on it. Joe answered and at first let me into the laundry room. From that room, you can only see a small portion of the kitchen, not the rest of the house. His mother, Dorothy L. Lakritz of Boynton Beach, Fl. came from around the corner that is the family room yelling "This is our house. Get out you whore." I had no idea that she was there. Joe ordered Max to "grab her, I can't or I will go back to jail." Max took me by the arms and slammed me up against the door. Dorothy grabbed my throat and began to choke me. When the gurgling began from my air being cut off, for some reason, she let go. I tried to get to the phone on the kitchen counter, but Joe ripped it out of the wall. I fled to my car for my phone. I first called my lawyer, Tracy. I remember that I called her office twice. I was confused and in pain after the attack and did not know what to do. It took me a few minutes to think and call the police. As it turns out, Dorothy, after the lapse of a few minutes, also called the police, but not before placing a call to someone else. ( See photo #1 & #2)

         

Photo 1                            Photo 2

On the tape of her call, the dispatcher can be heard prompting her to say I broke in through the front door. Max's written statement of the incident clearly said that I was let in through the laundry room. In the tape, Dorothy states that I was there for an appointment. If I had an appointment, why would I have to break in? When the police came, one of the responding officers was the same one who always showed up to the domestic violence calls except one. His name never appeared on any report that involved Joe. He refused to take pictures of me saying he did not have a camera. I let him talk me out of taking the ambulance to the ER. He wasn't even going to call for one until I insisted that I should at least be checked. He said they were needed for car accidents on the highway. I had to drive myself to a doctor's office several miles down Richmond Road. I was later to find out that Dorothy Lakritz testified that she brushed against my neck while defending herself from attack. How do you get a perfect thumb print on one side of the neck and the imprint of 4 fingers on the other side if she only brushed up against me? The police report contained a copy of the doctors report that stated I had injuries consistent with choking. (See photos 4 & 5)

Photo 4                                    Photo 5

There is a full account of everything that I had to go through that night in "A Case Of Attempted Murder", I, II and III.[ii] The rest of what I know was gotten from the police reports and 911 tapes that my lawyer never got. I had to subpoena them 2 years later. While I was forced by Judge pro tempore Ford to give a useless deposition On March 24, 2009, my neighbor saw a car in my driveway that matched the description of an unmarked car belonging to the James City County Police Department. When I arrived home that night, the police reports and 911 recordings were missing. Who do you call when it is most likely a police officer who broke in and stole evidence?

After I moved into my home in August, 2006, there were several break ins here. I called the police on several of them as there were eye witnesses placing Joe on my property at the time of the break ins. After much foot dragging for a year, I finally got the police to come out and do an "investigation". Inspector Bauman was the lead. It turns out that Insp. Bauman is Officer Bauman, not an inspector. They took my computer, along with the hard drive of the marital computer and blitzed evidence that was contained on both of them. They could not find any of my fingerprints in my own home. All fingerprints found were dismissed as having been on the furniture, doors, etc for the last few years. Some of the furniture in my home was never jointly owned with Joe, and he was never in my home with my permission. He refused to take a lie detector test. Insp. Bauman sent me a report, but that report was not included in the reports that were officially given me through the subpoena.

I can produce evidence that shows police reports were falsified. I have witnesses that I was forbidden to have a court reporter in front of Judge Samuel T. Powell. I have witnesses that were present for the lies of Nate Greene, the Commonwealth's Attorney. He said he never said something in court, yet it was reported that he did in the newspaper. This occurred at a meeting with Mr. Greene in reference to the falsified police reports. It was only a few days later that the police reports and 911 tapes were taken.

Yesterday, I found that the back glass door to my home had been blown out with a gun. (See photo #6) Officer Morris said there would be no investigation. I am a sitting duck in my own home, and the police will not even bother going to Walmart to speak to the clerk that said he helped Joe with the purchase of the gun that matches the type used. The police department will not even bother to ask for the records of the sales. Walmart enters the driver's license number for every gun purchaser. I also found, when I tried to call the police, that the phone line had been tampered with. Was someone giving themselves enough time to get away before police could be called?

Photo 6

When a person calls for investigation of James City County and Williamsburg VA., they are ignored. If you read the early accounts of what happened to me alone on Gather.com, and speak to ordinary citizens of what has happened to other women here, you would know this is not a safe place for women. I, though they have tried, still retain evidence against them. And a search of the court records of my case and others would show tampering. A search of the sealed juvenile court records would show that the court pays for lawyers for wealthy men and one of Colonial Services Board will disclose that the taxpayers are paying for services that can well be afforded by these men.

Since when is it legal for a "high placed person" to instruct law enforcement to ignore death threats and attempts at killing? I think that constitutes being an accessory. How many murders is this person an accessory to?

___________________________

Photo 1 Full size taken on May 12, 2006 in the front yard of 3908 Bournemouth Bend, Williamsburg, VA

 

 

 

 

Photo 2 Crop of photo 1 showing close up of neck of Gail Lakritz showing reddening of neck beginning.

 

 

 

Photo 3 Crop and brightened showing the officer (name unknown) in the background of photo 1

 

 

 

 

 

Photo 4 Taken on May 14, 2006 Showing thumb print

 

 

 

 

 

Photo 5 Taken on May 14, 2006 Showing imprint of 4 fingers

 

 

 

 

Photo 6 Taken on June 12, 2010 at the residence of Gail Lakritz.

 

 

 

 

---

[i] Strategy 2.A: Maintain continuous communication with other key service

providers involved in the juvenile justice system, Criminal Justice Plan

Prepared by Shakira D. Munden, Criminal Justice Planner, http://www.jccegov.com/pdf/ccjb/CCCJB%20Strtegic%20PlanFY07.pdf

[ii]A Case Of Attempted Murder I. http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977162000

A Case Of Attempted Murder, II http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977162129

A Case Of Attempted Murder, III http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977162191

Registered sex offender charged with rape of 5-year-old

Shit like this pisses me off!  Why was this registered sex offender anywhere near a 5yr old girl?  I don’t care if the other rape of a little girl happened when he was under 18 or not.  It doesn’t sound like it was a situation where he and a girl a small age difference were in a dating relationship and she yelled rape or her parents did or whatever like that.  And, I don’t care if the little girls story has changed...she is 5 for crying out loud and rape is a foreign concept for her, or well I’d hope!  Although, who knows with her mom saying that his visits were strictly overseen by her parents.  So ok, hhhmmm, you knew he was a sex offender yet still let him visit your home...ok sounds strange to me, but that’s just me.  I’d never knowingly allow a sex offender anywhere near my child, even with me there.  Too many times I read of repeat offenders!!!!  And, even though this is the second time for this...he was released on such a small bail; only $100,000...UGH

By Brian Fraga

bfraga@s-t.com

June 15, 2010 12:00 AM

NEW BEDFORD — A registered sex offender is charged with raping a 5-year-old girl in the city.

Matthew J. Meneses, 19, of 523 N. Front St. was held on $100,000 bail after being arraigned Monday in New Bedford District Court on charges that include rape of a child with force, indecent assault and battery on a child under 14, and witness intimidation.

Meneses, a registered Level 2 sex offender with a prior conviction for rape of a child, is alleged to have sexually assaulted the 5-year-old girl within the last few weeks. Prosecutors said he also threatened to harm the girl if she told anyone.

The alleged victim's parents attended Monday's arraignment and were visibly emotional as Assistant District Attorney Erin Aiello summarized the allegations against Meneses. They left the courthouse immediately after the arraignment.

Authorities said Meneses knew the child's parents. The child came forward June 5 and told a relative that "Matt" had inappropriately touched her while in her family's residence. It is believed the girl's parents were home when the incident is said to have occurred, prosecutors said.

Detectives are not sure of the exact date of the alleged incident.

During Monday's bail arguments, defense attorney Andrea DeBries said the girl's story of how she was assaulted by Meneses has differed as more people, including investigators, subsequently questioned her.

"This is a story that's grown over time each time it's told," said Debries, describing how the alleged victim included additional allegations against Meneses in each retelling.

"There are very, very significant differences in her stories," said Debries, adding that Meneses adamantly denies the allegations against him.

DeBries said Meneses is willing to undergo a polygraph test and submit a DNA sample. DeBries also said the alleged victim's mother told police that Meneses had very limited contact with the girl and that any visits were strictly overseen by her parents.

DeBries requested a $2,500 cash bail for Meneses, citing that he has no adult criminal convictions.

Information on Meneses' prior rape conviction was not available because he was a juvenile at the time of the offense, which occurred in New Bedford, authorities said.

Meneses' juvenile record also consists of an arrest for assault and battery and two arrests for failing to register as a sex offender, which were later dismissed.

Police logs show Meneses was arrested in February 2009 on charges of disturbing the peace and unlawful possession of a Class C substance.

Aiello requested $250,000, citing Meneses' prior rape conviction and juvenile record.

District Court Judge Robert A. Welsh III noted the serious nature of the alleged offense and set bail at $100,000. He ordered Meneses to return to court July 1 for a probable cause hearing.  View original article here:  Registered sex offender charged with rape of 5-year-old New Bedford girl | SouthCoastToday.com