Former Millbrook Police Officer Sentenced to One Year in Prison
WSFA 12 NEWS STATION Failed To Identify the JUDGE
March 27, 2008 10:48 AM
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Montgomery, Al. (WSFA)-- A former Millbrook police officer who pleaded guilty to sexual misconduct charges in January will serve one year in prison.
Francisco Aponte was arrested in May of 2007 for the rape of a Millbrook woman while he was on duty.
The victim told medics at the hospital she had been attacked and raped by a Millbrooke officer.
When Chief Kenneth Bradley of the Millbrook P.D. learned one of his officer was involved in the case he immediately turned the case over to the Elmore County Sheriff's Department.
Aponte was fired immediately after being taken into custody.
A grand jury then indicted him in July of 2007 for rape, sexual abuse, and sexual misconduct.
On Thursday morning, he was sentenced to one year in prsion.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Oregon's KATU Doesn't Name Judge in murder of Shane Stephens, age 10
Father and son, 10, dead in apparent murder-suicide at Oregon coast.
Judge Modifying the Restraining Order Not Named.
Story Updated: Mar 19, 2008
By KATU Web Staff
FORT STEVENS STATE PARK, Ore. - Clatsop County officials are investigating an apparent murder-suicide involving a Portland man and his 10-year-old son.
Officials with the Clatsop County District Attorney's Office said their bodies were found inside the father's vehicle at Fort Stevens State Park near Astoria.
Investigators say the father, identified as Rockland Stephens, 49, ran a hose from the tail pipe into the cab of the vehicle. They said the man and boy both likely died of carbon monoxide poisoning.
The deaths reportedly come shortly after events connected to a child custody battle.
Police say Stephens had his son, Shane, (pictured at right) for the weekend and was supposed to return the boy to his mother's house in St. Helens but never showed up.
KATU News has learned the child's mother obtained a restraining order on Jan. 17 citing concerns about Stephen's conduct.
On Jan. 22, a Columbia County judge issued an order modifying the original restraining order allowing alternate weekend visitations by Stephens.
Shane's mother had accused Stephens of fleeing to Fiji with another child, who is now an adult, in order to prevent her from having custody.
An investigation into the deaths is continuing.
(As this was an updated version and the judge is still not named...much work needs to be done given the history of behavior of the father. - Editor.)
Judge Modifying the Restraining Order Not Named.
Story Updated: Mar 19, 2008
By KATU Web Staff
FORT STEVENS STATE PARK, Ore. - Clatsop County officials are investigating an apparent murder-suicide involving a Portland man and his 10-year-old son.
Officials with the Clatsop County District Attorney's Office said their bodies were found inside the father's vehicle at Fort Stevens State Park near Astoria.
Investigators say the father, identified as Rockland Stephens, 49, ran a hose from the tail pipe into the cab of the vehicle. They said the man and boy both likely died of carbon monoxide poisoning.
The deaths reportedly come shortly after events connected to a child custody battle.
Police say Stephens had his son, Shane, (pictured at right) for the weekend and was supposed to return the boy to his mother's house in St. Helens but never showed up.
KATU News has learned the child's mother obtained a restraining order on Jan. 17 citing concerns about Stephen's conduct.
On Jan. 22, a Columbia County judge issued an order modifying the original restraining order allowing alternate weekend visitations by Stephens.
Shane's mother had accused Stephens of fleeing to Fiji with another child, who is now an adult, in order to prevent her from having custody.
An investigation into the deaths is continuing.
(As this was an updated version and the judge is still not named...much work needs to be done given the history of behavior of the father. - Editor.)
Sunday, March 9, 2008
Kids Dying in State Care - Judges not named.
All these reports - but not One judge identified. Why?
***
Report finds holes in city's child-protection safety net
Judging kids' risk is an 'ongoing problem,' it says
By Ann Imse, Rocky Mountain News
Saturday, March 8, 2008
Chandler Grafner, 7, died from starvation.
An outside review has criticized Denver's child protection agency for a long list of management problems, including failure to check for abuse by non-family members such as boyfriends.
The outside review was requested by the Denver Department of Human Services after a 7-year-old boy was starved to death and a young girl was subjected to sexual abuse and then died. In both cases, social workers had been warned of the danger to the children.
A separate review of a dozen such cases statewide is expected by early April.
"It is clear that risk and safety assessment continues to be an ongoing problem, both within Denver County and in the state," the Denver review warned.
The review found that Denver social workers often do not interview unrelated adults in abuse cases, even though they often turn out to be the source of the threat to the child.
The report also blames a checklist, created by the state to help caseworkers decide when a child is in danger. Instead of helping, the report says, the checklist has caused caseworkers to focus only on impending danger and not other issues, such as chronic neglect caused by a caregiver's substance abuse.
Improper use of the checklist "has caused workers to minimize risk factors that jeopardize safety of children still living in the home," the report said.
State officials said they would consider the criticism before responding.
Denver already has added to the checklist, ordering interviews of all caretakers and all adults in a home, checks on their backgrounds, and checks for previous child-welfare reports on the family from another county.
The review was sharply critical of management at Denver DHS while praising its intention and reforms aimed at keeping children safe in their family homes. Denver's re-abuse rate - when a child suffers a second incident of abuse after coming into social services care - is 2.7 percent, less than half the national standard.
But families told the reviewers their caseworkers were uncaring and hostile, while caseworkers said they were working in a punitive environment and powerless to help children and families. Social workers and judges cited each other as obstacles to good care for the children.
White blamed low morale on the recent child deaths, inquiries and personal blame. "It's really hard to lose children who've sat on their laps," she said.
Officials said families often don't get the help they need, including mental health or substance abuse treatment, even when they ask for it.
Denver DHS director Roxane White said all the recommendations would be accepted. She will find the money to add 25 caseworkers on top of the 40 approved earlier this month.
Six more legal staff will be hired to help caseworkers prepare for court and to comply with court orders, White said.
Total cost of addressing the issues was estimated at $1.75 million.
She said one conflict occurred because judges insisted on sending children to facilities that Human Services found to be doing poorly with the children they already had. She said the court now has "some really great new judges."
But even then, White said, "We will never be able to fill all of the gaps in child welfare. Human services isn't our top priority as a country."
White is leaving her job soon to take over a new Denver- based human services foundation.
***
Report finds holes in city's child-protection safety net
Judging kids' risk is an 'ongoing problem,' it says
By Ann Imse, Rocky Mountain News
Saturday, March 8, 2008
Chandler Grafner, 7, died from starvation.
An outside review has criticized Denver's child protection agency for a long list of management problems, including failure to check for abuse by non-family members such as boyfriends.
The outside review was requested by the Denver Department of Human Services after a 7-year-old boy was starved to death and a young girl was subjected to sexual abuse and then died. In both cases, social workers had been warned of the danger to the children.
A separate review of a dozen such cases statewide is expected by early April.
"It is clear that risk and safety assessment continues to be an ongoing problem, both within Denver County and in the state," the Denver review warned.
The review found that Denver social workers often do not interview unrelated adults in abuse cases, even though they often turn out to be the source of the threat to the child.
The report also blames a checklist, created by the state to help caseworkers decide when a child is in danger. Instead of helping, the report says, the checklist has caused caseworkers to focus only on impending danger and not other issues, such as chronic neglect caused by a caregiver's substance abuse.
Improper use of the checklist "has caused workers to minimize risk factors that jeopardize safety of children still living in the home," the report said.
State officials said they would consider the criticism before responding.
Denver already has added to the checklist, ordering interviews of all caretakers and all adults in a home, checks on their backgrounds, and checks for previous child-welfare reports on the family from another county.
The review was sharply critical of management at Denver DHS while praising its intention and reforms aimed at keeping children safe in their family homes. Denver's re-abuse rate - when a child suffers a second incident of abuse after coming into social services care - is 2.7 percent, less than half the national standard.
But families told the reviewers their caseworkers were uncaring and hostile, while caseworkers said they were working in a punitive environment and powerless to help children and families. Social workers and judges cited each other as obstacles to good care for the children.
White blamed low morale on the recent child deaths, inquiries and personal blame. "It's really hard to lose children who've sat on their laps," she said.
Officials said families often don't get the help they need, including mental health or substance abuse treatment, even when they ask for it.
Denver DHS director Roxane White said all the recommendations would be accepted. She will find the money to add 25 caseworkers on top of the 40 approved earlier this month.
Six more legal staff will be hired to help caseworkers prepare for court and to comply with court orders, White said.
Total cost of addressing the issues was estimated at $1.75 million.
She said one conflict occurred because judges insisted on sending children to facilities that Human Services found to be doing poorly with the children they already had. She said the court now has "some really great new judges."
But even then, White said, "We will never be able to fill all of the gaps in child welfare. Human services isn't our top priority as a country."
White is leaving her job soon to take over a new Denver- based human services foundation.
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