Childhood abuse hurts the brain

Abuse during childhood can change the structure and function of a brain, and increase the risk of everything from anxiety to suicide. “These changes are not limited to physical and sexual abuse; there’s growing evidence that even verbal assault can alter the way a developing brain is wired,” says Martin Teicher, associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. The ominous effects are tied to reduction in the size of sensitive areas of the brain and to abnormal brain waves that mimic epilepsy. READ MORE HERE

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Lecture on Child Maltreatment and Brain Consequences
by David McCollum, MD, delivered on April 6, 2007

COMMERCE CITY, CO– A 60-year-old Commerce City woman faces a charge of child abuse resulting in death for allegedly killing her four-year-old grandson. Doris Becky Trujillo was arrested Friday – the same day Gabriel Trujillo passed away from his injuries. According to Commerce City Police, emergency responders were called to the 6400 block of Siegal Court at about 2:00 p.m. Tuesday on a report that a child had fallen.  READ MORE HERE

A senior Chamber of Commerce figure and former RAF police officer raped a schoolgirl while his wife lay on the bed watching, a court heard today. Derek Chartres, 59, allegedly watched pornography and engaged in sex acts in front of schoolgirls and is also accused of raping a girl under 16. The former Chamber of Commerce president is accused of a string of sex acts against two girls, while his wife Pearl, 51, denies aiding and abetting the rape after she allegedly lay on the bed and watched.  READ MORE HERE

An elementary school teacher has been jailed for 40 years for having sex with a 14-year-old student. Shannon Alicia Schmieder, 39, was told she will have to serve 20 years – by far the toughest sentence ever handed out by a U.S. court to an educator accused of underage sex. Legal experts said the jail term was the same for manslaughter and other serious crimes. The 39-year-old knew the boy since he was born and was at one stage like a mother-figure to him, according to his family.  READ MORE HERE

LUCERNE VALLEY, CA– Sheriff’s deputies arrested a man Thursday night after he allegedly beat his girlfriend’s 2-year-old son to death in a remote area of Lucerne Valley. Dispatchers received a call about 10:05 p.m. of a child who had been assaulted and was not breathing at a home in the 9200 block of Anza Trail. Deputies arrived to find paramedics administering CPR to 2-year-old Damian Negrete, according to a news release issued by the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department.  READ MORE HERE

Parents Allowed Their Son To Die While They Lay In Bed Taking Drugs

The parents of an eight-year-old boy let him die in agony from a treatable cancer because they were too busy lying in bed taking drugs, it emerged today. Monica Hussing, 37, and William Robinson Sr., 40, were jailed for eight years in Ohio yesterday after pleading guilty to denying their son Willie medical treatment for Hodgkin’s lymphoma. The appalling tale of neglect unfolded as the court heard that Willie had suffered for more than two years with pain and swollen neck glands which grew eventually to the size of a softball. But despite the boy pleading for help, his parents failed to do anything. Cuyahoga County Judge Michael Astrab compared the autopsy photo of Willie’s emaciated body to that of a concentration camp victim. READ MORE HERE

Mom testifies at murder trial of her toddler’s stepmother

Mount Clemens— The last time Lauren Furneaux saw her 2-year-old daughter, the tearful toddler was being handed off to her father in the parking lot of a gas station. Hours later, Lily Lynette Furneaux-Wolfenbarger was dead, and her stepmother, Renee Marie King, is on trial for felony murder, charged with fatally beating the girl. During testimony Thursday in Macomb County Circuit Court before Judge Diane M. Druzinski, Furneaux recounted her last moments with her daughter Nov. 20, 2010, and how she noticed injuries to the girl earlier that month. READ MORE HERE

UPDATE: Father arrested after altercation at wife’s trial in girl’s death

“BROKEN CHILD DOCUMENTARY” (Video)

Remarks of Michael Mierendorf, writer and producer of the HBO documentary, BROKEN CHILD, upon accepting an award at the ATTACh Conference, Minneapolis, October, 2000.

“In BROKEN CHILD, I tried to depict how the complex and cumulative effects of child abuse, neglect, and trauma can lead to mental illness and violent or anti-social behavior. The message of BROKEN CHILD, to me, is a stark reality; that when children become emotionally or psychologically damaged that the damage is very hard to undo. no matter what the therapy or how skilled the therapist. So the lesson of the BROKEN CHILD is prevention and early intervention.”  VIEW VIDEO HERE

THOMAS EMIL SLIWINSKI

In 2003, Thomas Emil Sliwinski was charged with criminal endangerment for having sex without consent with his young stepdaughter. He pled guilty to this charge and the plea agreement required Sliwinski to attend sex offender treatment. He was also charged with tampering with physical evidence after it was learned that he had destroyed evidence and Sliwinski was convicted of this charge. Sliwinski was given a five-year suspended sentence for both of these convictions. READ MORE HERE

If you have any information concerning this person, please contact your local FBI office or the nearest American Embassy or Consulate.

Field Office: Salt Lake City

UPDATE (2/17/12)–  Waite charged with murder in son’s death

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Sex offender wasn’t on state registry

WOMAN & CHILD BOTH FOUND NAKED, BLEEDING

22-year-old Diana Ochoa was booked into the Fresno County Jail and is facing child abuse charges. The woman was wandering the streets near the intersection of Fresno and Herndon, with her two-year-old niece. Both were naked and covered in blood. Before the violence, Ochoa went into this insurance office apparently disturbed. “She came in and said that ‘I cannot take care of this child, I’m unfit to take care of this child,’ ” said Kiera Pippen. When she tried to get help, Ochoa left. According to Police, Ochoa then stripped off the little girls clothes and her own and started beating the child. READ MORE HERE   (and)  READ MORE HERE