Parent's Worst Nightmare

In this Turf War, Kids Are the Prize
By Jeffery M. Leving and Glenn Sacks
Tallahassee Democrat, 6/13/07

In part because of the Alec Baldwin-Kim Basinger custody battle, the controversial concept of Parental Alienation is now being debated extensively in the media. Parental Alienation often arises after a divorce or separation, as one parent turns the children against the other parent, often employing false allegations to do so. Baldwin claims that he is the target parent of PA.

Misguided women’s advocates assert that PA is a myth used by abusive fathers to blame their ex-wives when their children are hostile to them. Recently, Kim Gandy, President of the National Organization for Women, condemned PA as “junk science, junk justice.” NOW, the Family Violence Prevention Fund, and a dozen other women’s groups signed on to a complaint filed against the United States this month with the Inter American Commission on Human Rights. The complaint claims that American courts victimize abused mothers by “frequently awarding child custody to abusers.”

In reality, when domestic violence allegations are made, judges take them very seriously, preferring to "err on the side of caution" even when evidence is lacking. By contrast, fathers who are targets of false accusations and parental alienation can only protect their relationships with their children by financing expensive legal battles.

Despite the controversy, PA is a common phenomenon which has been well-documented and widely supported in the mental health community. For example, a longitudinal study published by the American Bar Association in 2003 followed 700 "high conflict" divorce cases over a 12 year period and found that elements of PA were present in the vast majority of the cases studied.

The pain that alienating mothers (or, in some cases, alienating fathers) visit upon their children would be hard to understate. In a new Psychology Today article devoted to this controversy, Michelle Martin, who was a victim of PA as a child, recalls:

"You were either on my mother's side or against her, and if you were on her side, you had to be against my father. She was so angry at him…you couldn't possibly have a relationship with him if you wanted one with her."

Martin describes her late father as a gentle, caring man who refused to criticize her mother. She says that she was so afraid of losing her mother’s approval that she bought into her alienation campaign against her father, including her mother’s systematic attempts to convince her that her father had been abusive. Martin says:

"I still, to this day, have to live with the mean things I said to him. The letters that I wrote to him. There are things I did purposely to hurt him."

Family law mediators J. Michael Bone, Ph.D. and Michael R. Walsh Esq. explain that in PA situations children fear abandonment, and "live in a state of chronic upset and threat of reprisal.” Bone and Walsh note that when children “express positive approval of the absent parent, the consequences can be very serious...The child is continually being put through various loyalty tests…the alienating parent thus forces the child to choose [between] parents...in direct opposition to a child's emotional well-being.”

Some parental alienators go to extreme or even demented lengths. In the Canadian PA case Rogerson v. Tessaro, the Ontario Court of Appeal found that when the children went to visit their father, the mother “failed to inform him about the children's medications, or to give him their prescription drugs, so that they would return home from visits with him sicker than when they left.”

ABC’s John Stossel, who has covered PA on several occasions in recent weeks, describes one “heartbreaking” case he filmed for his TV show 20/20:

“A divorced father went to see his five kids for what he thought would be a full-day visit. He was entitled to that, under court order, and the court also ordered the mother not to discourage the children from spending time with their father. But she clearly had poisoned his children’s minds against him. The father just stood outside his ex-wife’s house and begged his children, ‘Would you like to go out with me today?’ ‘No,’ said one kid after another. Then the mother ordered the kids back into her house.

“What comes through on the tape is the unbridled satisfaction of the mother and the helplessness of the father.”

Parental Alienation is child abuse. Courts need to do more to protect children from alienation, not dismiss it.

No wrong found in false court records
Secret dockets, missing files and deleted records play into investigation of judicial misconduct.

by Dan Christensen and Patrick Danner
Miami Herald
May 20, 2007

An investigation into the planting of false court records by two Miami-Dade judges found no wrongdoing, even though the phony information remains on the public docket in one case.

The Judicial Qualifications Commission's inquiry also missed evidence of false records in another case after the clerk's office deleted it from the public docket.

A spokeswoman for the JQC, an independent agency that investigates complaints of judicial misconduct, declined to comment.

The JQC opened an inquiry into the actions of Miami-Dade Circuit judges Daryl Trawick and Victoria Sigler after receiving a complaint from a Broward circuit judge in February.

The complaint alleged "judicial misconduct based on the falsification of records," according to a Feb. 21 letter written by JQC Executive Director Brooke Kennerly. In Florida, it is a crime for anyone, even a judge, to falsify court records.

In the case handled by Trawick, 10 phony docket entries purported to show that criminal charges were dropped against a defendant who was cooperating with prosecutors and police. In fact, the informant pleaded guilty to laundering drug money.

In the case handled by Sigler, an informant pleaded guilty to attempted murder and kidnapping, but the plea was not docketed.

And for nearly a year, misleading entries were added to the docket that made it appear that a trial was pending.

Through a court spokeswoman, Trawick and Sigler acknowledged last month that they approved altering the court dockets. They explained the secrecy was supposed to be temporary and wasn't intended "to arbitrarily conceal case activity."

"In both instances, both the defense and the prosecution approached the court and jointly requested the placement of temporary entries on the docket to protect defendants cooperating with law enforcement," said court spokeswoman Eunice Sigler, who is not related to the judge.

DEAD-END INQUIRY

The JQC began to check out the Feb. 13 complaint against the two judges, but its inquiry went nowhere fast, according to a letter that offers a rare glimpse of how the secretive JQC does its job.

"A review of the dockets for the two cases you listed does not reveal any factual basis for action by the commission," Kennerly wrote to the complainant, Broward Judge Robert Lance Andrews.

By then, the phony records in Trawick's case had been erased from the public docket.

Eunice Sigler said the false entries were deleted by "a supervisor within the Clerk of Courts, most likely after receiving notice of an error in the docket."

Still, the JQC could have found the records if it had requested access to the clerk's non-public docket.

Mike Henderson, a top assistant to clerk Harvey Ruvin, said the deleted false entries in the case of Salim "Johnny" Batrony still exist on a non-public side of the clerk's electronic docket.

He gave a copy of that information to reporters.

The JQC, which can issue subpoenas, has the authority to obtain such information, but never sought access to it, according to Ruvin and Henderson.

The false information was on the public docket for more than four years before it was deleted between late August and October after The Miami Herald asked about it.

Now the case file also is missing.

According to court spokeswoman Eunice Sigler, clerks typically insert into the file a written explanation as to why docket changes were made.

"But because the original file cannot be located, the clerk's office has no way of giving us further information," Sigler said.

"PHONIED UP" DOCKET

Batrony's Miami lawyer, Paul Petruzzi, has said the clerk's office "phonied up" the docket at the direction of Trawick and an assistant state attorney to allow Batrony to work undercover. Trawick now is assigned to the civil bench.

The JQC's inquiry regarding Judge Sigler involved the docket in the case of Michael Scott Segal. Kennerly's letter said the JQC found no evidence of false docket entries. But a recent review by The Miami Herald shows the false entries remain on Segal's public docket.

Segal, who cooperated with authorities, pleaded guilty to attempted murder and kidnapping at an unusual secret hearing at a Miami-Dade police station on May 13, 2003, according to a transcript obtained by The Miami Herald.

Segal's plea, taken by Sigler, was not docketed.

Kennerly declined to be interviewed because JQC investigations are confidential until formal charges are filed. If no charge is filed, they remain confidential forever. Andrews, the judge who filed the complaint, did not comment.

The Florida Supreme Court has said it is examining the falsification of court records to protect informants--a practice Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernández Rundle's office said has gone on quietly for decades.

The point of this page is to combat the false notion that fathers abuse children more than mothers, not to suggest that mothers should not have equal parental rights after a divorce.

Contrary to public perception, "the most likely physical abuser of a young child will be that child's mother, not a male in the household" ⁴

Mothers abuse children twice as often as fathers: 40% of child victims were maltreated by their mother acting alone, vs 19% percent by their father acting alone.⁵

Mothers accounted for 55% of child murders, whereas fathers were responsible for only a relatively tiny percentage.³

Women ages twenty to forty-nine are almost twice as likely as men to be perpetrators of child maltreatment: ". . . almost twothirds [of child abusers] were females". Given that male perpetrators are not necessarily fathers but more likely to be boyfriends and stepfathers, fathers emerge as the least likely child abusers.¹

Research found that children are as much as thirty-three times more likely to be abused when a live-in boyfriend or stepfather is present.²

Judges error on the dangerous side by giving children to mothers and not fathers.

From the father's perspective, it appears that the real abusers have removed him from the family so they can abuse his children with impunity.

• 1 US Dept. of Health and Human Services, 1998a, xi-xii
• 2 Robert Whelan, 1993, 29
• 3 Justice Department, BJS 1994
• 4 Patrick Fagan and Dorothy Hanks of the Heritage Foundation, 1997, 16

Who are the Perpatrators of Child Abuse? Stats from the U.S Dept of Health & Human Service

Most States define perpetrators of child abuse and neglect as parents and “other caretakers” (such as relatives, babysitters, and foster parents) who have harmed a child in their care. It is important to note that States define the term “caretaker” differently. Harm caused to a child by others (such as acquaintances or strangers) may not be considered “child abuse” but rather may be considered a criminal matter. According to the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System’s most current report, Child Maltreatment 2005, of the approximately 899,000 child abuse and neglect victims in 2005, the largest percentage of perpetrators (79.4 percent) were parents, including birth parents, adoptive parents, and stepparents. Other relatives accounted for an additional 6.8 percent, residential staff for 0 .2 percent, and daycare providers for 0.6 percent. Unmarried partners of parents accounted for 3.8 percent of perpetrators while foster parent accounted for 0.5 percent of perpetrators. In 2005, 57.8 percent of child abuse and neglect perpetrators were females and 42.2 percent were males. For the most part, female perpetrators were younger than male perpetrators; of the women who were perpetrators, 45.3 percent of females were younger than 30 years of age as compared to 34.7 percent of males. The full text of Child Maltreatment 2005 is available on the Children’s Bureau website at http://www.acf.dhhs.gov/programs/cb/pubs/cm05/index.htm.

Ricardo Villalobos - Therapist, White Collar Child Abuser, Abuse and Trauma enabler for little children,Child Abuse Fabricator, big time liar.
1908 T Street, NW, Suite A
Washington , DC , 20009
Phone: 2022972825
email:Therapist@ricardovillalobos.info
Woodburn Mental Health Clinic, Annandale, Virginia
Kolmac Clinic, Silver Spring, Maryland
Whitman-Walker Clinic, Arlington, Virginia
The Women's Center, Vienna, Virginia
Argus House for Adolescent Boys, Arlington, Virginia
Will County Dept. of Mental Health, Addictions Counseling Center, Joliet, Illinois

Meet Mr.Ricardo Villalobos: http://www.ricardovillalobos.info/

+Several people have questioned Mr. Ricardo Villalobos and his credibility as to his intentions as a therapist.

+In 2008, Judge Charles Maxfield of the Fairfax Circuit Court issued an court order preventing Ricardo Villalobos from having any further contact with two young children he was providing therapy on a bi-weekly basis for over a year while claiming that the children were depressed and confused due to sexual and physical abuse by their father that he had diagnosed.

+In 2007 Judge Leslie Alden of Fairfax Circuit found Ricardo Villalobos's expert testimony lacking any credibility.

+Mr. Villalobos came to court to testify as a expert witness on child abuse - when asked if he had brought his credentials/resume/curricum vita with him. His answer was No, I did not think it was needed in court. (During his testimony, it was learned that, he had never testified as a expert witness before and hence did not know he should have brought his resume with him to court.

+Ricardo Villalobos was conspiring with a convicted felon Lawyer Robert Machen ( Who spent a year in a federal prison) and CPS worker Shannon Traore aka Shannon Tyler...( who was later fired from Fairfax County Child Protective Services).
see:Fairfax County CPS SocialWorker accused of Fabricating Child Abuse allegations.






Mental Health Therapist charged with child sexual Abuse
A former mental health center therapist has been charged with drug and sex activities involving teenage boys under her care..see link above

Psychologist charged with assault, child abuse at a Silver Spring Clinic in Washington

Postal worker rampages through Goleta

TimMolloy

Associated Press

GOLETA — A former postal worker who had been put on medical leave for psychological problems shot five people to death at a huge mail-processing center and then killed herself in what was believed to be the nation’s deadliest workplace shooting ever carried out by awoman.

The attack Monday night was also the biggest bloodbath at a U.S.postal installation since a massacre 20 years ago helped give rise to the term “going postal.”

Investigators would not release the killer’s name or discuss a motive for the attack.

The rampage — the nation’s first deadly postal shooting in nearly eight years — sent employees running from the sprawling Southern California complex and prompted authorities to warn nearby residents to stay indoors as they searched for the killer.

The 44-year-old woman had not worked at the plant for more than two years but still managed to get inside the fenced and guarded Santa Barbara Processing and Distribution Center. She drove through a gate by following closely behind another car, then got in the front door by taking an employee’s electronic identification badge at gunpoint, authorities said. The employee was not hurt, authorities said.

She opened fire with a 9 mm handgun, reloading at least once during the rampage, Santa Barbara County Sheriff Jim Anderson said.

Authorities found two people dead outside the plant, blocks from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Another body was just outside the door, and a wounded woman was just inside. Three more bodies (including that of the killer) were farther inside.

The wounded woman, Charlotte Colton, 44, was hospitalized in critical condition. She had been shot in the head.

All of the killer’s victims were believed to be employees at the postal center.

Postal Inspector Randy DeGasperin said the woman had been placed on medical leave in 2003 for psychological reasons. He said she had been removed from the building by sheriff’s deputies that year for acting strangely. She made no threats, but other workers were afraid she might hurt herself, authorities said.

DeGasperin said it was unclear if she targeted certain people or fired at random, but “chances are she might have known her victims.”

The sheriff said the woman’s hair had been cut, and her appearance was different from when she worked at the plant. Her electronic pass card had been taken away when she stopped working at the facility, he said.

James Alan Fox, a criminologist at Northeastern University in Boston and an expert on homicides, said the death toll might be the highest ever for any workplace shooting carried out by a woman.

“Men, more than women, tend to view their self-worth by what they do” at work, Fox said. Men also appear more prone to use violence in seeking revenge while “women tend to view murder as a last resort,” he said.

As the shooting began, some of the 80 or so workers streamed out of the building. Some ran to a firehouse.

“I was dumping mail on a belt when the gunshots suddenly `boom, boom, boom, boom!’” said postal worker Alger Busante, 56. He rushed out of the building.

“It is really very shocking. This is a peaceful place,” Busante said.

Postal employee Charles Kronick told KEYT-TV in Santa Barbara that he was inside the building when he heard shots. “I heard something that sounded like a pop, and then I heard a couple seconds later, another pop, pop,pop,” Kronick said.

Kronick said his boss came running over and told him to get out of the building, and “we all hightailed it out real quick.”

The dead were identified as Ze Fairchild, 37, Maleka Higgins, 28, Nicola Grant, 42, Guadalupe Swartz, 52, and Dexter Shannon, 57.

Postmaster General John E. Potter said counselors would be available to the families and employees. “Our heartfelt prayers and condolences go out to the families of the victims and to our employees who have suffered through this tragic incident,” he said in a statement issued in Washington.

It was the deadliest shooting at any U.S.workplace since 2003, when 48-year-old Doug Williams gunned down 14 co-workers, killing six, and then committed suicide at a Lockheed Martin aircraft parts plant in Meridian,Miss.

It also was the bloodiest rampage at a U.S.postal installation since 1986, when a mailman killed 14 people in Edmond, Okla., and then took his own life. Postal installations were hit with a string of deadly shootings in the mid-1980s and early ‘90s.

The nation’s last postal shooting was in 1998, when a 27-year-old letter carrier fatally shot a post office clerk in Dallas after they argued in a break room. The gunman was found not guilty of murder by reason of insanity.

About 300 people are employed atthe Goleta plant, situated about a mile from the ocean, with the mountains as a backdrop.But most of the employees were not on duty at the time of the shooting. Goleta Los Angeles. (pronouncedgoh-LEE-tuh) is about 90 miles northwest of Los Angeles)

Employees were told to report Tuesday to another processing center in nearby Oxnard.

• Associated Press writer Christina Almeida in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

Female sexual abuse hidden
By John Ferguson

SEXUAL abuse by women may be escaping punishment because of their victims’ embarrassment and society’s failure to understand the gravity of the crimes.

A major study is investigating the impact of female sexual abuse in Victoria amid concerns that women—including mothers, teachers and childcare workers—are abusing children at greater rates than once believed.

Melbourne researcher Rebecca Deering said her preliminary inquiries suggested the stigma of being abused by a woman stopped victims reporting the offence.

Ms Deering said that gender differences may mean that society diminishes the extent to which women can offend.

“It has been argued that women are incapable of performing sexual acts with children due to physical make-up,” she said.

“However,women do engage in such acts with children and research suggests that such abuse may be occurring at higher rates than once believed.”

Ms Deering was speaking after a judge decided against jailing mother-of-three Karen Ellis, 37, for having a sexual relationship with a 15-year-old student.

The student denied that the affair had affected him, but that didn’t stop a backlash when Ellis—a former physical education teacher— escaped jail despite having sex six times with the boy.

Ms Deering wants to talk to more victims of female sexual abuse for her study,which is part of her doctorate of forensic psychology at Deakin University. Ms Deering said early replies to the study showed a big impact on victims.

“Based upon those, the impact has been extremely damaging,” she said.

“They’ve basically written that it has had a huge psychological impact on their lives,that they’ve never spoken about it for years and years.

“And(they) didn’t even realise until a lot of them had begun to speak about it that it was sexual abuse.

“I guess they lived in a world of confusion around what’s happened, what’s going on—is it abuse or was it based upon motherly love and that kind of thing?

“It often takes years of therapy for someone to come forth and talk about it.”

The Ellis case has reignited debate about the role of women in sex abuse.

The Australian Council of State School Organisations and Crime Victims Support Association called for a review of the way such cases were handled.

The Ellis case was compared with disgraced tennis coach Gavin Hopper, who was jailed for at least two years over an affair with a 14-year-old female student.

Ms Deering said there was a substantial body of research on the effects of women sexually abusing children, although evidence suggested not all victims suffer psychological damage. They include emotional, behavioural and sexual dysfunction.

She said male victims had reported that the effects of the abuse lingered.

“Male victims have reported that the abuse had an intense and traumatic impact on their lives, both at the time of the abuse and for several years following the incident,” Ms Deering said.

“Female victims have reported identity confusion, sexual and relationship difficulties,anxiety, depression, self-mutilation, suicidal gestures, low self-esteem and personality disorders.

“Other studies have found that victims can suffer from feelings of guilt and self-blame, post-traumatic stress disorder, dissociative states, development of antisocial behaviour and victimisation of others, suicidal (thoughts and)interpersonal difficulties, including lack of ability to trust others. . .”

Ms Deering said there was evidence to suggest that victims of female offenders suffered as badly as victims of male offenders.

Anyone interested in joining the study can call 9251 7630.

Wife convicted of plot to kill husband with anti-freeze
A wife was found guilty yesterday of trying to kill her husband by slipping anti-freeze into his wine and curry. A jury found Kate Knight, 28, guilty of attempting to murder her husband Lee at their home in Stoke-on-Trent in 2005.Sentencing was adjourned until a later date.

Mr Knight, 37, suffered kidney failure and brain damage after being poisoned.He is now blind, partly deaf and needs 24-hour care. The former factory worker,who lives with his parents and the couple's nine-year-old son Jack, said after the hearing: "It has been very stressful.

"I realised my wife had left me. I lost my job, my house, everything I worked for and, worst of all, my son. I have hardly any independence any more.I need to have somebody with me all the time. I don't think I'll ever be able to work again."

During a three-week trial at Stafford Crown Court, jurors were told that Knight plotted to poison her husband, who worked for JCB, in order to collect a £130,000 pay-out from his employer and clear her debts.

On the night of their seventh wedding anniversary, she cooked a curry and served him red wine - both of which were laced with ethylene glycol, the chemical name for anti-freeze.

Knight had used internet search engines to find a method of killing, and decided on anti-freeze after ruling out ecstasy or an overdose of iron.

A neighbour of the couple, Sarah Johnson, 28, told the jury Knight mentioned paying £50,000 to hire a hitman. Under cross-examination, Knight blamed her husband's health problems on drinking too much alcohol.

Girls tortured woman for hours
Apr 17 2004

The Western Mail


THREE girls subjected a woman to a catalogue of systematic and brutal violence during two hours of torture, a court heard yesterday.

Jennifer Hughes was told by her attackers they would “finish her off” after hitting her on the head with a bottle and repeatedly stabbing her in the legs.

Natasha Elizabeth Thomas, 16, Jennifer Louise Evans, 17 and Kelly Anne Evans, 17, all of Caernarfon, were sentenced to two-and-a-half years detention.

The judge, Recorder Julian Shaw, said that the victim had been tortured as she pathetically begged to be left alone but she was prevented from leaving the flat in Caernarfon.

“It was nothing short of appalling violence perpetuated on a wholly defenceless young woman,” Mr Shaw said. “It beggars’ belief that the three of you subjected her to repeated punching to the head . . . kicks and stamping upon her”.

The victim was offering no violence and tried to get away but she was prevented from doing so and was subjected to sickening violence.

“You kept her in that flat against her will and systematically tortured her,” he said.

At one stage the judge commented, “Without wishing to be too flippant, this is like ascene from a Tarantino film.”

Prosecutor Rhys Rowlands told how during the attack in December last year Kelly Evans elbowed her so hard to the face that she dropped to the floor where she was “pelted” with a bottle.

Jennifer Evans kicked and stamped on her face and head and held her arms, pinning her down, while the other two continued the brutal attack.

Natasha Thomas then took a knife and stabbed her six times to the legs.

Other young women who had been sickened by the violence left, only to return more than an hour later to see blood on the walls and the attack still going on.

Miss Hughes was seriously injured and covered in blood. One eye was completely closed, the other virtually closed, and there was a shoe mark clearly defined on her face, Mr Rowlands said.

She also had puncture wounds to the legs where she had been knifed, bruising and swelling to the face and body, and a nasal bone was broken.

Mr Rowlands said it had been a vicious and sustained attack in the early hours ofthe morning which had probably lasted much more than two hours and came to anend at 5am.

Kelly Evans was described as “going bonkers” during the attack and said that she would finish her victim off.

The background was not clear but one of the defendants had accused Miss Hughes of sleeping with her boyfriend and another had accused her of being “a grass” over some minor misdemeanours in the homeless hostel where they were living at the time.

The judge said that he accepted that all three defendants had sad and difficult backgrounds but that could not excuse such gross violence.

Robert Jones, for Thomas, said his client was a vulnerable, troubled young woman who had participated in order to be accepted by her peers.

He said she suffered an unhappy childhood, had been in a children’s home and then a homeless hostel which was completely inappropriate.

She had been a truant since the age of 13, had mixed with older people, and the offence occurred in drink. Mr Jones said the offence did have an effect on her, as she was remorseful, but her present attitude was a front that was put on.

Gordon Hennell for Kelly Evans said that his client also had a troubled background,was immature, but was showing maturity and responsibility and had followed a number of courses while in custody.

She appreciated that she would have to get on with her life the best she could on her release.

John Wyn Williams for Jennifer Evans said that she was effectively of good character,was very young and it was sad that she had been involved.

“The sad aspect of this case is that you have three young women under the influence of drink acting like animals, like a pack of dogs, and there is no excuse for that.”

Two of four appear in court in Dumpster murder case;


Women charged with obstructing justice,
conspiracy after the fact



By BRIAN HAYES and DAN ARSENAULT / Staff Reporters

Halifax, Nova Scotia

November 26, 2004



Two of four people charged in the April murder of Lennie Daniel Clancey had a busy day in several courtrooms on Thursday.

Two women whom Halifax Regional Police arrested Wednesday were arraigned in Halifax provincial court on charges of obstructing justice and conspiracy after the fact in the killing of the 25-year-old Halifax man.

After her arraignment, Shirley Colleen Gillis, 32, was taken to Nova Scotia Supreme Court for a bail hearing. She was released on a $10,000 recognizance with conditions.

Suzanne Silver, 33, was transported to Dartmouth provincial court to face six unrelated charges of uttering threats and violating court orders stemming from incidents on Nov. 3 and Oct. 12. She pleaded not guilty and is to be back in Dartmouth court Tuesday to have a trial date set.

Ms. Silver is also to be in Nova Scotia Supreme Court in Halifax at 11 a.m. today for a bail hearing on the obstruction and conspiracy charges.

The two women were arrested at their homes, police spokesman Sgt. Don Spicer said Thursday.

He couldn’t discuss what led police to lay these specific charges but he described in general terms what constitutes being an accessory after the fact.

“It’s alleged that they assisted the people that are responsible for the actual event . . . in order for them to avoid prosecution,” he said.

In Dartmouth court next Tuesday, Ms. Silver will be joined by her brother, Michael Trevor Silver, 31, also accused of conspiracy and obstruction, and Christopher Paul Rocheleau, 27, charged with first-degree murder.

Preliminary hearing dates will be set for all three. Arrangements are being made to have Ms. Gillis appear on the same day to have her preliminary hearing date set as well.

Mr. Silver is free on bail while Mr. Rocheleau remains in custody at the Central Nova Scotia Correctional Facility in Dartmouth.

It took police five days to identify Mr. Clancey’s charred remains, which a group of kids found in a burned trash bin behind Eric Graves Junior High School.

Police say he died from a gunshot wound.

Mr. Clancey, who had an extensive criminal record, had filed an insurance claim against Ms. Silver after an August 2000 car crash that killed his then-girlfriend, Theresa Marlene Hunt, 22, near the Porters Lakeexit on Highway 107.

He also filed suit against the man who was driving Ms. Silver’s BMW, her boyfriend, Patrick John Bevin, 30.

This August, Mr. Bevin, Ms. Silver, her sister Kim Silver, 39, and three others

Second Arrest For Tampa Sex Teacher

This time, the victim is 15 years old
By 970 WFLA
Wednesday, April 16, 2008

TAMPA, Florida. (970 WFLA) - Stephanie Ragusa has been arrested for having sex with a student... again.

According to reports, on February 15, 2007, the fifteen year old victim had sex with Ragusa, his 27 year old teacher.

She taught the victim at Davidson Middle School.

On March 10, 2008 the defendant and victim were communicating via cell phone text messages and they both agreed to meet, this time at the victim's residence.

They engaged in oral sex and sexual intercourse on this occasion.

During the course of the victim and defendant's relationship, Ragusa provided the victim with alcoholic beverages and engaged in sexual intercourse more than twenty times.

The victim positively identified the defendant and also positively identified two tattoos the defendant has which can only be seen when the defendant has no pants on.

Ragusa was previously arrested for having sex with a different student, that one a 14 year old.

Ex-Teacher Gets 2 More Years for Photos
By BILL POOVEY
Associated Press Writer

January 10, 2007, 5:56 PM EST

McMINNVILLE, Tenn. -- A former teacher serving an eight-year prison sentence for having sex with a 13-year-old student agreed Wednesday to serve two more years for sending him nude photos of herself.

Pamela Rogers pleaded guilty to two counts of solicitation of sexual exploitation of a minor. She admitted sending the photos, and investigators allege she also received photos and videos from the boy, now 15.

"She had become obsessed with him," her lawyer, Peter Strianse said."I think she is over that."

Rogers, 29, was arrested in February 2005 and pleaded no contest to having sexual intercourse and oral sex with the student. A judge suspended most of her eight-year sentence on the condition that she not contact the student or his family or use the Internet.

Six months ago, Circuit Judge Bart Stanley ordered Rogers to serve the rest of the sentence after she sent the photos to the boy, and prosecutors brought the new charges. The new sentence was added to the first term for a 10-year total.

A clinical psychologist hired by Rogers' family testified in July that Rogers was a sex addict. Rogers was married when the relationship with the boy began but has divorced.

McMinnville, a town of about 13,000, is about 65 miles southeast of Nashville.

Carer jailed for child sex binge

By Malcolm Weatherup



A FORMER victims of crime support counsellor who took in homeless young girls she met at church functions was jailed yesterday for sexual offences against one of the children in her care.

Naomi Geia, 40, opted at the last minute not to go to trial.

Instead she pleaded guilty before Judge Julie Dick in the District Court to one count of maintaining an indecent relationship with a child under 16 and nine counts of indecent dealing.

Crown prosecutor Angus Edwards said the offences occurred on Palm Island and in Townsville between 1994 and 1996, and involved a girl who was 12 at the time of the first offence.

The complainant is now 21 and recently made a statement to police about the matter.

Mr Edwards said Geia had been a well-respected member of the island community and had been regularly used by police as a victim support counsellor.

She would take in troubled young girls at her home, many of whom she met at Gospel Outreach church functions.

The complainant told police Geia started sexual overtures and then overt acts in1994, although the child made it clear she had “absolutely no interest” in that sort of thing.

Thecourt was told that although only 12, the child - who had other issues in her background - got drunk and tried to kill herself, but that did not deter her carer.

Mr Edwards said even when the child started to go to boarding school in Townsville, she was the subject of Geia’s sexual attentions.

On one occasion Geia and the child spent a weekend in a Rosslea motel, where several acts occurred. On another occasion a similar situation happened at the house of Geia’s brother in Townsville.

Mr Edwards said although the child made it clear she did not like what was happening, she was under pressure to maintain silence because the family was in a position of power on the island.

The offending occurred on 15 to 18 occasions over 12 to 18 months, the court was told.

Barrister Mark Donnelly, for Geia, asked Judge Dick to take into consideration Geia’s lack of criminal history, an excellent work record which included managing three of the airlines servicing Palm Island, and her extensive community work, particularly in the area of drug and alcohol rehabilitation.

“My client is a regular church goer and I ask you to regard these matters as an uncharacteristic aberration in an otherwise upstanding community life,” Mr Donnelly said.

Judge Dick told Geia she had since shown she knew how badly she had behaved with a child who came to her with problems and seeking help.

“You let this child down in the most serious way and you let yourself down in the same serious way,” she said.

Judge Dick sentenced Geia to three years’ jail, but ordered that she be released after serving 10 months, the remainder of the time suspended for five years.

“Mother Arrested for Murdering 10-Year-Old Son”
Los Angeles: On August 20, 2004, at approximately 12:45 p.m., Los Angeles City paramedics were summoned to a house in the 5100 block of East Dartmouth Avenue in the ElSereno area of Los Angeles. Inside a bedroom at the location, they discoveredan unconscious 10-year-old boy bleeding from a wound in the throat area. Inanother room, they found the boy’s mother, Rosa Santoyo, 28, in an unconsciousstate with a laceration on her arm. The police were summoned, and the boy andhis mother were transported by paramedics to Los Angeles County-University ofSouthern California Medical Center. The child died shortly thereafter.

Investigating detectives believe that Rosa Santoyo used one or more knives to kill the boy, and then tried to kill herself. Santoyo was arrested for murder, and is beingheld without bail in the County Jail Ward where she is in satisfactory condition.

The mother and the boy live alone. The father lives locally but is estranged from Santoyo. No motive has been established and the investigation is ongoing.

The Abused Child Unit is conducting this investigation. Anyone with information regarding this murder is asked to contact Juvenile Division Detectives at 213-485-4220. On weekends and during off-hours, call the 24-hour toll free number for the Detective Information Desk at 1-877-LAWFULL or 1-877-529-3855.

This press release was prepared by Media Relations Section, at 213-485-3586.

BY MICHELLE CARUSO
DAILY NEWS WEST COAST BUREAU CHIEF
Dawnette Knight, charged with making criminal threats against actress Catherine Zeta-Jones -->Catherine Zeta-Jones -->LOS ANGELES - A crazed stalker with a fatal attraction to Michael Douglas terrorized his wife, Catherine Zeta-Jones,threatening to “cut her to bits” or blow her up “so pieces of her head look like President Kennedy’s,” according to bombshell court testimony yesterday.

Douglas and his movie-star wife took the stand to reveal terrifying details from phone calls and letters they said were written by aspiring psychologist Dawnette Knight, 32.

In a case that seems almost ripped from the script of Douglas’ chilling 1987 film“Fatal Attraction,” Knight allegedly took up her poisoned pen because she was infatuated with the 59-year-old actor.

The letters threatened that Zeta-Jones’ murder would be “the biggest entertainment story of all time” and accused the sultry actress of having sex with George Clooney, her co-star in “Ocean’s Twelve,” and “marrying Michael for his money.”

Several letters, which Zeta-Jones read aloud in court, referred to cutting or slicing her up “like Sharon Tate,” the Charles Manson victim - or “slashing her throat like Nicole Simpson.”

“We are going to slice her up like meat on a bone and feed her to the dogs,” said one letter.

Another, a mock obituary, had the word “good-bye” next to Zeta-Jones’ picture and called her a “whore gold digger” who would be “solemnized ASAP in a Catholic Church in Wales.”

Douglas testified that at first he tried to spare his wife the horror of the threats,hoping the police could deal with them quietly. “I was shocked, scared andstunned,” Michael Douglas said. But he decided to keep it quiet. “I did not want to create a furor,” he said.

And he did not tell Zeta-Jones. “I felt it would upset her tremendously without having any form of results,” he said.

Between reading the letters, Zeta-Jones also talked about the nightmare at the hearing, held to determine whether Knight should stand trial.

“It’s really hard to keep telling you how I feel. I’m running out of words,” said a gutsy Zeta-Jones, who stared down Knight between recounting the grisly threats that left her with breath-stealing panic attacks. “It’s so satanic a terrorist threat. I can’t imagine how a sane human being could hold these images in her head.”

The stalker is accused of terrorizing the Oscar-winning Welsh actress for more than a year, tracking her around the world.

Knight admitted being “infatuated with Michael Douglas” in a letter of apology shewrote to Zeta-Jones after her arrest in June, but she pleaded not guilty to allcharges.

Knight, who is being held on $1 million bail, is charged with one count of stalking and 24 counts of threatening Zeta-Jones between January 2003 and May 2004. If convicted, she could face 19 years in prison.

The alleged stalker even tracked down Zeta-Jones in Amsterdam, where she was shooting the yet-to-be-released “Ocean’s Twelve” in May and phoned death threats to her hotel, triggering horrible panic in the star.

In court, the 35-year-old actress said: “I felt like I was about to faint. I couldn’t breathe. My hands were sweating and tingling. I called my husband and told him, ‘I think I’m going to have a heart attack or a stroke. I have to seea doctor.’”

Zeta-Jones was “joyed and relieved” when Knight was caught and jailed, but “it will affect me for the rest of my life,” she said, wiping a tear with her finger.

Knight played with the braids in her hair as Zeta-Jones spoke.

The threat letters were sent to friends and relatives of the glamorous Hollywood couple. Some of the earliest ones went to the home of Michael’s father, Kirk Douglas, who did not tell his son right away in an attempt to shield the stars.

Michael Douglas was touched by his dad’s courage. “I was deeply concerned for him because he’s 87 years old and he was trying to protect Catherine and myself,and I was concerned about the stress this was putting on him,” he said.

Douglas first learned of the death threats in March 2004, when a call was made to a Bermuda hotel owned by Douglas and his mother. The desk clerk who took the callsaid “a woman with a Southern-type accent said she was going to kill Catherine,” Douglas testified.

After Douglas learned of the previous threats, he spoke to police, who said he had to tell Zeta-Jones.

The stars were particularly chilled by some of the stalker’s personal knowledge of them.

One letter described the front hall of the Douglas’ apartment in detail. Another described a nanny who had worked for them. “The proximity made us terrified,”Michael said. I felt very vulnerable.”

Knight’s defense attorney Richard Herman tried to make light of the threats, and suggested to Douglas that female stalkers “are not dangerous.”

Prosecutor Debra Archuleta later countered, to objections from Herman, “Wasn’t that the premise of ‘Fatal Attraction?’ And she was very dangerous!”