neglect

Published on: December 1, 2016

Police claim parents give their daughter away as a gift to a sexual predator. 12 girls found living in his home.

A man in Pennsylvania was charged with sexual assault, aggravated indecent assault, indecent assault, corruption of minors and unlawful contact with a minor after he allegedly fathered two children with a teen-aged girl who was given to him as a gift by her parents.

12 girls were allegedly found living in 51-year old Lee Kaplan’s home. Their ages ranged from 6 months to 18 years old. Police claim that the 18-year old was the mother of a 3-year old and a 6-month old child.

The girl’s father, Daniel Stoltzfus, is reported to have told officers that he and his wife Savilla, gave their daughter as a gift to Kaplan for helping them out of a “financial ruin” after “researching the legality of it on the internet.” According to police, Stoltzfus’ daughter was 14 when she got pregnant the first time and he was aware of her pregnancy.

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Published on: November 21, 2016

Horrific Texts Foreshadow Woman’s Jealous Rage and Killing of Child

by Staycie R. Sena

A Pennsylvania man, Andre Price, has been charged with child endangerment and the mother of his children has been charged with murder after she sent him angry text messages threatening to kill the children and a lifeless video of one child and he failed to respond.

The woman allegedly believed that Price wasn’t coming home so that he could be with another woman. In dozens of text messages she said “your kids ain’t safe here,” “come get them I don’t want them here” and “answer me or I am going to jail for child endangerment”. About an hour into the rant the woman allegedly sent a text message saying “I’m killing them,” followed by a laughing emoji with tears coming from its eyes. She then sent a lifeless video of the couple’s son.

The woman herself eventually called 911. Police found the boy dead on an air mattress. The woman has been charged with murder and child endangerment for endangering the life of the boys younger sister, who was present during the incident.

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Published on: December 15, 2014

Father Sentenced For Chaining Boy to Bed

by Staycie R. Sena

A man who was charged with child endangerment and abuse for allegedly chaining his 7 year old son to a bed while he went to work was sentenced to 30 days in jail and 30 days of house arrest.

The father reportedly said he couldn’t afford childcare services while he went to work and didn’t want his son running around the neighborhood. Although the child was not injured by the heavy chain that was secured to his ankle, and the boy had access to water, snacks, and the bathroom, the prosecutor said the father’s actions “absolutely rose to the level of child abuse” according to the Herald Journal.

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Published on: October 6, 2014

Grandma Charged For Leaving Baby At Home Alone While Partying

by Staycie R. Sena

A mom dropped off her one-year old child at her grandmother’s house at 8 a.m. on a Wednesday morning. She later attempted to contact the grandmother by phone at about 10 p.m. the same night but was unable to reach her. Fearing for the woman’s safety, the concerned daughter called police, who entered the apartment at about 1 a.m. to allegedly find the house empty, with the small child unsupervised, sleeping on the couch.

About fifteen minutes later, the grandmother returned home and reportedly told police she was “sitting on a wall drinking with a friend.” She supposedly returned to her apartment because she saw police and flashing lights around her apartment and thought, “they must be here for me.”

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Published on: March 10, 2010

Virtual Reality

by Staycie R. Sena

This headline stopped me dead in my tracks: “Couple Let Baby Starve to Death While Raising Virtual Baby Online”. What? Wait- WHAT?! The tragedy of Korean couple Kim Yoo-chul, 41 and Choi Mi-sun, 25 has made headlines all over the world. CNN reports that the couple let their real daughter starve to death while playing a virtual-reality game where they raised a virtual daughter in 12-hour on-line sessions at a local internet cafe. “The couple seemed to have lost their will to live a normal life because they didn’t have jobs and gave birth to a premature baby, Chung Jin-Won, a police officer, told the Korean press. “They indulged themselves in the online game of raising a virtual character so as to escape from reality, which led to the death of their real baby.” The couple are likely facing charges of child abuse, child neglect and homicide.

Like most people I was perplexed by such recklessness. As a mother, I simply can’t imagine what would compel a parent to neglect a baby so drastically. But, as a criminal defense attorney who has represented many parents in criminal child abuse or child neglect cases, there are a few things troubling about this story. First and foremost, there’s no allegation that the baby was ever left unsupervised.

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