By Jim Spellman,
CNN
Originally published January 17, 2013
The university psychiatrist who treated the accused gunman in last year's deadly Colorado theater rampage could face more than a dozen lawsuits that blame her and the school for not properly handling James Holmes' treatment.
At least 14 people have filed legal documents indicating they are planning to sue the University of Colorado Denver and Dr. Lynne Fenton for negligence.
Holmes, 25, was a doctoral student in neuroscience at the university.
Fenton has testified that her contact with Holmes ended on June 11, more than a month before he allegedly walked into a crowded movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, and opened fire, killing 12 people and wounding 58 others during a screening of the new Batman film.
She said she later contacted campus police because she was "so concerned" about what happened during her last meeting with him, but she declined to detail what bothered her.
The entire story is here.
Showing posts with label Criminal Behavior. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Criminal Behavior. Show all posts
Thursday, January 31, 2013
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Warning Signs of Violent Acts Often Unclear
By BENEDICT CAREY and ANEMONA HARTOCOLLIS
The New York Times
Published: January 15, 2013
No one but a deeply disturbed individual marches into an elementary school or a movie theater and guns down random, innocent people.
That hard fact drives the public longing for a mental health system that produces clear warning signals and can somehow stop the violence. And it is now fueling a surge in legislative activity, in Washington and New York.
But these proposed changes and others like them may backfire and only reveal how broken the system is, experts said.
“Anytime you have one of these tragic cases like Newtown, it’s going to expose deficiencies in the mental health system, and provide some opportunity for reform,” said Richard J. Bonnie, a professor of public policy at the University of Virginia’s law school who led a state commission that overhauled policies after the 2007 Virginia Tech shootings that left 33 people dead. “But you have to be very careful not to overreact.”
The entire story is here.
The New York Times
Published: January 15, 2013
No one but a deeply disturbed individual marches into an elementary school or a movie theater and guns down random, innocent people.
That hard fact drives the public longing for a mental health system that produces clear warning signals and can somehow stop the violence. And it is now fueling a surge in legislative activity, in Washington and New York.
But these proposed changes and others like them may backfire and only reveal how broken the system is, experts said.
“Anytime you have one of these tragic cases like Newtown, it’s going to expose deficiencies in the mental health system, and provide some opportunity for reform,” said Richard J. Bonnie, a professor of public policy at the University of Virginia’s law school who led a state commission that overhauled policies after the 2007 Virginia Tech shootings that left 33 people dead. “But you have to be very careful not to overreact.”
The entire story is here.
Sunday, January 6, 2013
State report blasts FAMU's effort to fight hazing before Champion's death
By Denise-Marie Ordway
Orlando Sentinel
Originally published December 28, 2012
FAMU lacked the internal controls needed to identify and fight hazing before the beating death of drum major Robert Champion in Orlando a year ago, according to a long-awaited investigative report released Friday afternoon.
The sharply critical report lays out a host of problems that the State University System found during its year-long investigation focusing on the university's failure to deter hazing in the years before Champion's death.
It comes just weeks after Florida A&M University's accrediting agency placed the school on probation for a year because of problems in areas such as student safety and school finances.
Derry Harper, the Inspector General for the university system's Board of Governors, reviewed hazing reports and FAMU's regulations between 2007 and 2011 to reach his conclusions. He discovered numerous failings, including poor communication between two key university departments and a lack of clear rules on how to handle hazing complaints.
Many of the hazing allegations investigated by campus police were never shared with the office that handles student discipline, even though some complaints might have prompted student disciplinary action. And nobody was tracking hazing on a campus that had been wrestling with the violent practice for decades.
The entire story is here.
Orlando Sentinel
Originally published December 28, 2012
FAMU lacked the internal controls needed to identify and fight hazing before the beating death of drum major Robert Champion in Orlando a year ago, according to a long-awaited investigative report released Friday afternoon.
The sharply critical report lays out a host of problems that the State University System found during its year-long investigation focusing on the university's failure to deter hazing in the years before Champion's death.
It comes just weeks after Florida A&M University's accrediting agency placed the school on probation for a year because of problems in areas such as student safety and school finances.
Derry Harper, the Inspector General for the university system's Board of Governors, reviewed hazing reports and FAMU's regulations between 2007 and 2011 to reach his conclusions. He discovered numerous failings, including poor communication between two key university departments and a lack of clear rules on how to handle hazing complaints.
Many of the hazing allegations investigated by campus police were never shared with the office that handles student discipline, even though some complaints might have prompted student disciplinary action. And nobody was tracking hazing on a campus that had been wrestling with the violent practice for decades.
The entire story is here.
Thursday, January 3, 2013
Reported sex assaults spike at military academies
By By LOLITA C. BALDOR
Associated Press
Originally published Dec 19, 2012
Reported sexual assaults at the nation's three military academies jumped by 23 percent overall this year, but the data signaled a continued reluctance by victims to seek criminal investigations.
According to a report obtained by The Associated Press, the number of assaults rose from 65 in the 2011 academic year to 80 in 2012. However, nearly half the assaults involved victims who sought confidential medical or other care and did not trigger an investigation. There were 41 assaults reported in 2010.
Reported sexual assaults have climbed steadily since the 2009 academic year. The Defense Department has urged the academies to take steps to encourage cadets and midshipmen at the Army, Navy and Air Force academies to report sexual harassment and assaults in order to get care to everyone and hold aggressors accountable. The number of assaults reported by the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., and the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo., increased, while reports at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., declined.
The entire story is here.
Associated Press
Originally published Dec 19, 2012
Reported sexual assaults at the nation's three military academies jumped by 23 percent overall this year, but the data signaled a continued reluctance by victims to seek criminal investigations.
According to a report obtained by The Associated Press, the number of assaults rose from 65 in the 2011 academic year to 80 in 2012. However, nearly half the assaults involved victims who sought confidential medical or other care and did not trigger an investigation. There were 41 assaults reported in 2010.
Reported sexual assaults have climbed steadily since the 2009 academic year. The Defense Department has urged the academies to take steps to encourage cadets and midshipmen at the Army, Navy and Air Force academies to report sexual harassment and assaults in order to get care to everyone and hold aggressors accountable. The number of assaults reported by the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., and the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo., increased, while reports at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., declined.
The entire story is here.
Sunday, December 30, 2012
Amgen Agrees to Pay $762 Million for Marketing Anemia Drug for Off-Label Use
By ANDREW POLLACK and MOSI SECRET
The New York Times
Published: December 18, 2012
The biotechnology giant Amgen marketed its anemia drug Aranesp for unapproved uses even after the Food and Drug Administration explicitly ruled them out, federal prosecutors said on Tuesday.
The federal charges were made public as Amgen pleaded guilty to illegally marketing the drug and agreed to pay $762 million in criminal penalties and settlements of whistle-blower lawsuits.
Amgen was “pursuing profits at the risk of patient safety,” Marshall L. Miller, acting United States attorneyin Brooklyn, said in a telephone news briefing on Tuesday.
David J. Scott, Amgen’s general counsel, entered the guilty plea at the United States District Court in Brooklyn to a single misdemeanor count of misbranding the drug, Aranesp, meaning selling it for uses not approved by the F.D.A.
Amgen agreed to pay $136 million in criminal fines and forfeit $14 million, with about $612 million going to settle civil litigation.
The entire article is here.
Tuesday, December 25, 2012
Hate crimes down in 2011, but anti-gay violence up, FBI says
More than 6,000 were reported, with nearly half of them racially motivated. Crimes targeting gays and lesbians increased about 2.6%.
Nearly half of the 6,222 hate crimes reported in 2011 were racially motivated, the FBI said, with nearly three-fourths directed at African Americans. More than 16% were motivated by anti-white bias.
About 59% of the known offenders for all reported hate crimes were white, and 21% were black, the agency said.
The Anti-Defamation League, which monitors and seeks to combat bigotry, welcomed the overall decrease in hate crimes but highlighted those motivated by sexual orientation.
"The increase in the number of reported hate crimes directed against gays and lesbians, now the second most frequent category of crime, is especially disturbing," the ADL said in a statement.
There were 1,508 reported sexual orientation hate crimes in 2011, up from 1,470 in 2010, an increase of about 2.6%. Overall, nearly 21% of hate crimes were motivated by sexual orientation bias, the FBI said, with men victimized the majority of the time.
Religious bigotry accounted for nearly 20% of reported hate crimes — the majority anti-Semitic, and another 13% anti-Islamic.
The entire story is here.
Originally published December 10, 2012
More than 6,000 hate crimes were reported to U.S. law enforcement agencies in 2011 — a 6% decrease from 2010, the FBI said Monday. But crimes based on the victim's sexual orientation increased slightly.
About 59% of the known offenders for all reported hate crimes were white, and 21% were black, the agency said.
The Anti-Defamation League, which monitors and seeks to combat bigotry, welcomed the overall decrease in hate crimes but highlighted those motivated by sexual orientation.
"The increase in the number of reported hate crimes directed against gays and lesbians, now the second most frequent category of crime, is especially disturbing," the ADL said in a statement.
There were 1,508 reported sexual orientation hate crimes in 2011, up from 1,470 in 2010, an increase of about 2.6%. Overall, nearly 21% of hate crimes were motivated by sexual orientation bias, the FBI said, with men victimized the majority of the time.
Religious bigotry accounted for nearly 20% of reported hate crimes — the majority anti-Semitic, and another 13% anti-Islamic.
The entire story is here.
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
The Violence Carousel Has Gone Around Again
By Stephen A. RaguseaThis time the violence involves semi-automatic weapons and scores of elementary school children. There are also dead teachers, a dead principal and a dead school psychologist. All seven adults were women and my bet is that, as we learn more about the psychodynamics of the disturbed young man who was the shooter, we will find that the gender of the victims was not a coincidence, but part of his thought disturbance.
We all want to know why this thing happened and we would prefer that there be one single, clear reason. But, as a clinical psychologist, I can assure you that there were several contributing factors, because human beings rarely do anything for one simple reason. We are complex creatures, we humans. Why did this happen? Part of the answer is that we live in a culture that encourages violence and that culture is held up for worship on the altars of television screens and movie theatres each and every day. It’s in our lust for blood in boxing matches and our appreciation of helmet cracking tackles in football and ice hockey. It’s in movies from “Rambo (I through V)” to Brad Pitt’s “Killing Them Softly.” It’s on television via movie reruns and shows like “The Sopranos” and your favorite version of “CSI.” We are a culture that embraces violence.
And, don’t forget our love of guns. ABC News recently reported that during the three day Thanksgiving holiday weekend alone, over 250,000 guns were sold in the United States.
Over the next couple of weeks, you’ll hear the same question over and over in the news media: does violence in the media increase violent behavior? For nearly fifty years the American Psychological Association has issued a variety of reports answering that critical question with an emphatic “Yes!” In psychological research, the viewing of large amounts of violence on television by young children has been correlated with increases in violent behavior into adulthood. Well, if TV viewing can impact our aggressive tendencies, what about the music we listen to?
One 2003 study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology suggested that listening to songs that contain violent lyrics results in an increase in aggressive thoughts and emotions. Some think that listening to powerful, violent, angry, songs can provide a “venting” of these powerful feelings, but this research provides evidence that just the opposite is true.
Of course, we must also ask ourselves “How much violence do we expose our children to?” One 2007 study found that “By the time the average U. S. child starts elementary school, he or she will have seen 8,000 murders and 100,000 acts of violence on TV.” And, that doesn’t include exposure via music and movies.
Add into that mix the fact that a small percentage our population suffers from various forms of severe mental illness and that we perpetually underfund treatment for psychological disorders. Make semi-automatic weapons available to that group and sooner or later, we will see an explosive incident such as that which occurred in Newtown, Connecticut. If we don’t do something to influence this course of events, we’ll see these incidents occur again and again.
Violence directly and negatively impacts our physical and mental health. Because violent content in movies, television, and songs has so consistently been shown to increase violent behavior, these characteristics should be diminished in our entertainment products. Psychologists have been giving that research-based advice to American society for almost 50 years. Quite frankly, nobody seems to be listening.
We can do better. Each one of us can decide to stop consuming these products. When enough people boycott media violence, producers will stop creating these violence-encouraging forms of “entertainment.” We can do better and we’d better do that.
Stephen A. Ragusea, Psy D, is a clinical psychologist in Key West and on the medical staff of The Lower Keys Medical Center.
Thursday, December 13, 2012
Justice Dept. recovers record $5 billion under False Claims Act
By Peter Finn
The Washington Post
Originally published: December 4, 2012
The Justice Department’s civil division recovered a record $5 billion in the past fiscal year from companies that defrauded taxpayers, with much of the abuse occurring in the health-care and mortgage industries.
The department pursued settlements and judgments under the False Claims Act, which Acting Associate Attorney General Tony West described Tuesday as “quite simply, the most powerful tool we have to deter and redress fraud.”
“Vigorous enforcement of the act allows us to protect not only taxpayer dollars but also the integrity of important government programs on which so many Americans rely,” West said.
The amount of money recovered in 2012 is up from $3.2 billion last year, and two-thirds of it was secured through the act’s whistleblower provisions.
“Many of these cases would not be possible without the whistleblowers . . . who have come forward to report fraud, often at great personal risk,” said Stuart Delery, the principal deputy assistant attorney general for the civil division.
The entire story is here.
The Washington Post
Originally published: December 4, 2012
The Justice Department’s civil division recovered a record $5 billion in the past fiscal year from companies that defrauded taxpayers, with much of the abuse occurring in the health-care and mortgage industries.
The department pursued settlements and judgments under the False Claims Act, which Acting Associate Attorney General Tony West described Tuesday as “quite simply, the most powerful tool we have to deter and redress fraud.”
“Vigorous enforcement of the act allows us to protect not only taxpayer dollars but also the integrity of important government programs on which so many Americans rely,” West said.
The amount of money recovered in 2012 is up from $3.2 billion last year, and two-thirds of it was secured through the act’s whistleblower provisions.
“Many of these cases would not be possible without the whistleblowers . . . who have come forward to report fraud, often at great personal risk,” said Stuart Delery, the principal deputy assistant attorney general for the civil division.
The entire story is here.
Friday, November 30, 2012
MaleSurvivor Conference Examines Sexual Abuse in Sports
By Eric V. Copage
The New York Times
Originally published November 18, 2012
Here are some excerpts:
A dour procession of stories about sexual misconduct by coaches toward their male charges has come to light in recent months. Jerry Sandusky, a former assistant football coach at Penn State, was sentenced in October to 30 to 60 years in prison on 45 counts of child molesting. Sugar Ray Leonard wrote in his autobiography last year that he was sexually molested by an Olympic boxing coach. The N.H.L. players Theo Fleury and Sheldon Kennedy were sexually abused as teenagers by their hockey coach Graham James.
The New York Times
Originally published November 18, 2012
Here are some excerpts:
A dour procession of stories about sexual misconduct by coaches toward their male charges has come to light in recent months. Jerry Sandusky, a former assistant football coach at Penn State, was sentenced in October to 30 to 60 years in prison on 45 counts of child molesting. Sugar Ray Leonard wrote in his autobiography last year that he was sexually molested by an Olympic boxing coach. The N.H.L. players Theo Fleury and Sheldon Kennedy were sexually abused as teenagers by their hockey coach Graham James.
The prevalence of sexual abuse among all boys 17 and under has been variously estimated to be as low as 5 percent and as high as 16 percent. For some of the millions of children who participate in sports nationwide, and their parents, sexual assault in a sports context has its own dynamic.
“Sports is a place where parents send their boys to learn skills, to learn how to be teammates and how to work together — to make boys stronger and healthier,” said Dr. Howard Fradkin, author of “Joining Forces,” a book about how men can heal from sexual abuse. “It’s the place where we send our boys to grow up. The betrayal that occurs when abuse occurs in sports is damaging because it destroys the whole intent of what they started out to do.”
Maine West High School Sued For Student Hazing, Sodomy 'Sanctioned By Coaches'
The Huffington Post
Originally published November 20, 2012
The family of a Illinois high school freshman is suing the Maine Township High School District 207, claiming that Maine West High School officials sanctioned hazing of the unnamed teen as part of a years-long ritual at the school.
The unidentified mother appeared at a news conference Monday wearing a baseball cap and sunglasses alongside attorney Antonio Romanucci.
"I thought my son would be safe at school," she said, according to WLS-TV. "You think when you drop off your son, it's a safe place to be. But I feel like the coaches should have kept him safe on the soccer field, and they didn't do that."
The mother adds that the acts -- and the school's failure to respond -- breaks Illinois state anti-bullying laws.
The lawsuit claims that the 14-year-old and at least two other boys were sexually assaulted during soccer practice in September -- during school hours and condoned by coaches. The complaint alleges that teammates shoved the three boys to the ground and beat them. The older players then held them down, pulled down their pants and underwear and sodomized them.
The entire story is here.
Originally published November 20, 2012
The family of a Illinois high school freshman is suing the Maine Township High School District 207, claiming that Maine West High School officials sanctioned hazing of the unnamed teen as part of a years-long ritual at the school.
The unidentified mother appeared at a news conference Monday wearing a baseball cap and sunglasses alongside attorney Antonio Romanucci.
"I thought my son would be safe at school," she said, according to WLS-TV. "You think when you drop off your son, it's a safe place to be. But I feel like the coaches should have kept him safe on the soccer field, and they didn't do that."
The mother adds that the acts -- and the school's failure to respond -- breaks Illinois state anti-bullying laws.
The lawsuit claims that the 14-year-old and at least two other boys were sexually assaulted during soccer practice in September -- during school hours and condoned by coaches. The complaint alleges that teammates shoved the three boys to the ground and beat them. The older players then held them down, pulled down their pants and underwear and sodomized them.
The entire story is here.
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
School Psychologist Pleads No Contest To Taking Photo Of Woman's Pubic Area
By David Owens
The Hartford Courant
Originally published November 1, 2012
In November 2011, as many people suffered through the power outages that followed the October snowstorm, David Pino of Keen Court opened his home to a friend who had no electricity.
The 36-year-old woman, a longtime friend of Pino and his wife, was going to stay the night. Before going to bed, the group had several drinks.
The guest was going to sleep on a day bed in a home office, but Pino suggested that she sleep in the master bedroom with Pino's wife. He said he would sleep on the day bed.
Early the next morning, the woman later told police, something went wrong.
The entire story is here.
The Hartford Courant
Originally published November 1, 2012
In November 2011, as many people suffered through the power outages that followed the October snowstorm, David Pino of Keen Court opened his home to a friend who had no electricity.
The 36-year-old woman, a longtime friend of Pino and his wife, was going to stay the night. Before going to bed, the group had several drinks.
The guest was going to sleep on a day bed in a home office, but Pino suggested that she sleep in the master bedroom with Pino's wife. He said he would sleep on the day bed.
Early the next morning, the woman later told police, something went wrong.
The entire story is here.
Saturday, November 3, 2012
Unlicensed psychologist also faces offender registration charge
By Nathan Woodside
The State Journal-Register
Originally published October 22, 2012
A man recently disciplined by the state of Illinois for unlicensed practice of clinical psychology is a former priest who also faces a criminal charge of failure to register as a sex offender.
Francis A. Benham, 74, was released from a Maryland jail in early 2006 after being convicted of sex crimes against children while serving as a priest there in the 1970s.
The entire story is here.
Thanks to Ken Pope for this story.
The State Journal-Register
Originally published October 22, 2012
A man recently disciplined by the state of Illinois for unlicensed practice of clinical psychology is a former priest who also faces a criminal charge of failure to register as a sex offender.
Francis A. Benham, 74, was released from a Maryland jail in early 2006 after being convicted of sex crimes against children while serving as a priest there in the 1970s.
The entire story is here.
Thanks to Ken Pope for this story.
Friday, October 26, 2012
Boy Scout Files Give Glimpse Into 20 Years of Sex Abuse
By Kirk Johnson
The New York Times
Originally published October 18, 2012
Details of decades of sexual abuse in the Boy Scouts of America, and what child welfare experts say was a corrosive culture of secrecy that compounded the damage, were cast into full public view for the first time on Thursday with the release of thousands of pages of documents describing abuse accusations across the country.
“The secrets are out,” said Kelly Clark, a lawyer whose firm obtained the files as evidence in an $18.5 million civil judgment against the Scouts in 2010. The legal effort to make the files public, by a group of national and local media outlets, including The New York Times — and represented by another lawyer, Charles F. Hinkle — resulted in an Oregon Supreme Court decision in June ordering full release. Mr. Clark said in a news conference that the database would be sortable by state, year and name.
The New York Times
Originally published October 18, 2012
Details of decades of sexual abuse in the Boy Scouts of America, and what child welfare experts say was a corrosive culture of secrecy that compounded the damage, were cast into full public view for the first time on Thursday with the release of thousands of pages of documents describing abuse accusations across the country.
“The secrets are out,” said Kelly Clark, a lawyer whose firm obtained the files as evidence in an $18.5 million civil judgment against the Scouts in 2010. The legal effort to make the files public, by a group of national and local media outlets, including The New York Times — and represented by another lawyer, Charles F. Hinkle — resulted in an Oregon Supreme Court decision in June ordering full release. Mr. Clark said in a news conference that the database would be sortable by state, year and name.
Officials with the Boy Scouts fought in the courts for years to prevent the release of the documents — more than 15,000 pages detailing accusations of sexual abuse against 1,247 scout leaders between 1965 and 1985, with thousands of victims involved, perhaps many thousands — contending that fear of breached confidentiality could inhibit victims from reporting other instances of abuse.
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
American Therapeutics' program director Abreu gets 108 months
by Kevin Gale
South Florida Business Journal
Originally published October 15, 2012
Vanja Abreu, former program director at the mental health care company American Therapeutic Corporation (ATC), was sentenced Thursday to 108 months in prison for participating in the $205 million Medicare fraud scheme, a press release from the U.S. Attorney's office said.
Abreu, 49, of Pembroke Pines, worked at ATC centers in Boca Raton and Miami. In addition to her prison term, U.S. District Judge Patricia A. Seitz sentenced Abreu to three years of supervised release following her prison term and ordered her to pay $72.7 million in restitution, jointly and severally with co-defendants.
On June 1, after a seven-week trial, a federal jury in the Southern District of Florida found Abreu, who holds a doctorate degree, guilty of one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud.
(cut)
Evidence at trial revealed that program directors, including Abreu, helped doctors at ATC sign patient files without reading the files or seeing the patients. Evidence further revealed that Abreu and others would assist the owners of ATC in fabricating doctor notes, therapist notes and other documents to make it falsely appear in ATC’s patient files that patients were qualified for this highly specialized treatment and that the patients were receiving the intensive, individualized treatment PHP is supposed to be.
The entire story is here.
South Florida Business Journal
Originally published October 15, 2012
Vanja Abreu, former program director at the mental health care company American Therapeutic Corporation (ATC), was sentenced Thursday to 108 months in prison for participating in the $205 million Medicare fraud scheme, a press release from the U.S. Attorney's office said.
Abreu, 49, of Pembroke Pines, worked at ATC centers in Boca Raton and Miami. In addition to her prison term, U.S. District Judge Patricia A. Seitz sentenced Abreu to three years of supervised release following her prison term and ordered her to pay $72.7 million in restitution, jointly and severally with co-defendants.
On June 1, after a seven-week trial, a federal jury in the Southern District of Florida found Abreu, who holds a doctorate degree, guilty of one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud.
(cut)
Evidence at trial revealed that program directors, including Abreu, helped doctors at ATC sign patient files without reading the files or seeing the patients. Evidence further revealed that Abreu and others would assist the owners of ATC in fabricating doctor notes, therapist notes and other documents to make it falsely appear in ATC’s patient files that patients were qualified for this highly specialized treatment and that the patients were receiving the intensive, individualized treatment PHP is supposed to be.
The entire story is here.
Saturday, October 13, 2012
91 Are Charged With Fraud, Billing Millions to Medicare
By REUTERS
Originally published October 4, 2012
Ninety-one people including doctors, nurses and other medical professionals were charged criminally after an investigation of Medicare fraud that involved $430 million in false billing in seven cities, officials said on Thursday.
It was the government’s second big raid in recent months after a similar investigation in May involving $452 million in possible fraud in Medicare, the health program for the elderly and disabled.
(cut)
The investigation is part of an effort by the Obama administration to find health care savings.
The entire story is here.
Thursday, October 11, 2012
Files Offer Glimpse Into Shooting Suspect
By JACK HEALY
The New York Times
Originally published September 28, 2012
Here is an excerpt:
The defendant, James E. Holmes, had been a graduate student in the neuroscience program at the University of Colorado, Denver, but he had struggled and was in the process of dropping out of the program by mid-June, about six weeks before the July 20 shootings.
The legal case against Mr. Holmes has proceeded with a high degree of secrecy, with the bulk of the case file hidden by court order from public view.
The judge in the case, William B. Sylvester, opened the file over the objections of prosecutors and defense lawyers, but he agreed to leave documents like affidavits and warrants under wraps. He allowed heavy redactions of motions and documents, meaning that entire pages of the case file are blacked out, obscuring their content and meaning.
After the killings, family members of victims and people who knew Mr. Holmes, 24, asked what warning signs he might have offered as he became more isolated and, according to the police, began to amass an arsenal of guns, bullets and explosives.
The entire article is here.
Friday, September 21, 2012
Former Bangor Psychologist Sentenced for Sexual Assault and MaineCare Fraud
Maine Attorney General Press Release
Originally published August 31, 2012
Attorney General William J. Schneider announced today that former psychologist John A. Keefe, 60, of Veazie, pled guilty to one count of Class B theft by deception and one count of Class C gross sexual assault for engaging in sexual acts with a client and billing MaineCare for mental health therapy services for that client.
Penobscot County Superior Court Justice William R. Anderson sentenced Keefe on each count to three years imprisonment with all but 120 days suspended and two years of probation, to be served concurrently. He also required Keefe to pay $14,806.52 restitution to MaineCare.
From 2007 to 2010, Keefe engaged in sexual acts with a female client while claiming to provide mental health therapy to that client. Some of the sexual acts occurred in Keefe’s office at Columbia Psychology Associates in Bangor during mental health therapy sessions that he billed to MaineCare. On June 22, 2010, Keefe surrendered his license to practice psychology during the pendency of the criminal action through entry of a consent agreement with the Maine Board of Examiners of Psychologists.
The entire story is here.
Originally published August 31, 2012
Attorney General William J. Schneider announced today that former psychologist John A. Keefe, 60, of Veazie, pled guilty to one count of Class B theft by deception and one count of Class C gross sexual assault for engaging in sexual acts with a client and billing MaineCare for mental health therapy services for that client.
Penobscot County Superior Court Justice William R. Anderson sentenced Keefe on each count to three years imprisonment with all but 120 days suspended and two years of probation, to be served concurrently. He also required Keefe to pay $14,806.52 restitution to MaineCare.
From 2007 to 2010, Keefe engaged in sexual acts with a female client while claiming to provide mental health therapy to that client. Some of the sexual acts occurred in Keefe’s office at Columbia Psychology Associates in Bangor during mental health therapy sessions that he billed to MaineCare. On June 22, 2010, Keefe surrendered his license to practice psychology during the pendency of the criminal action through entry of a consent agreement with the Maine Board of Examiners of Psychologists.
The entire story is here.
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
NH psychologist's sex charges reinstated
Hollenbeck’s sex charges reinstated
By Danielle Rivard
Sentinel Source.com
Originally published September 6, 2012
The case of a psychologist with a practice in Keene who was accused of having sex with a former patient is headed back to court.
Burton G. Hollenbeck Jr., 58, of Richmond faced 30 counts of aggravated felonious sexual assault before a Cheshire County Superior Court judge dismissed the charges.
Prosecutors appealed to the N.H. Supreme Court, which reversed the decision in a ruling released Wednesday.
Hollenbeck was accused of engaging in sexual conduct with the woman less than a year after her therapy with him ended, which violates state law, according to court documents.
(cut)
In its 3-1 decision Wednesday, the N.H. Supreme Court said the state has a legitimate interest in protecting people whose ability to consent to sexual contact may be compromised by the inherent nature of the treatment relationship, and in maintaining the integrity of mental health professionals.
The entire story is here.
Monday, September 3, 2012
Priest apologizes after sex abuse comments draw ire
By Laura Koran
CNN
Originally published August 31, 2012
A prominent Catholic friar has apologized for saying that child victims of sex abuse may at times bear some of the responsibility for the attacks because they can seduce their assailants, and that first-time sex offenders should not receive jail time.
"I did not intend to blame the victim," the Rev. Benedict Groeschel, of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, said Thursday. "A priest (or anyone else) who abuses a minor is always wrong and is always responsible."
As founder of the Trinity Retreat House, which operates "to provide spiritual direction and retreats for clergy," Groeschel has worked with priests involved in abuse.
His initial comments were published by the National Catholic Register, a conservative Christian publication, which also issued an apology.
"Child sexual abuse is never excusable," the newspaper said in a statement. "The editors of the National Catholic Register apologize for publishing without clarification or challenge Father Benedict Groeschel's comments that seem to suggest that the child is somehow responsible for abuse. Nothing could be further from the truth."
The entire story is here.
CNN
Originally published August 31, 2012
A prominent Catholic friar has apologized for saying that child victims of sex abuse may at times bear some of the responsibility for the attacks because they can seduce their assailants, and that first-time sex offenders should not receive jail time.
"I did not intend to blame the victim," the Rev. Benedict Groeschel, of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, said Thursday. "A priest (or anyone else) who abuses a minor is always wrong and is always responsible."
As founder of the Trinity Retreat House, which operates "to provide spiritual direction and retreats for clergy," Groeschel has worked with priests involved in abuse.
His initial comments were published by the National Catholic Register, a conservative Christian publication, which also issued an apology.
"Child sexual abuse is never excusable," the newspaper said in a statement. "The editors of the National Catholic Register apologize for publishing without clarification or challenge Father Benedict Groeschel's comments that seem to suggest that the child is somehow responsible for abuse. Nothing could be further from the truth."
The entire story is here.
Priest Puts Blame on Some Victims of Sexual Abuse
By Sharon Otterman
The New York Times
Originally published August 30, 2012
A prominent Roman Catholic spiritual leader who has spent decades counseling wayward priests for the archdiocese provoked shock and outrage on Thursday as word spread of a recent interview he did with a Catholic newspaper during which he said that “youngsters” were often to blame when priests sexually abused them and that priests should not be jailed for such abuse on their first offense.
The Rev. Benedict Groeschel, who made the remarks, is a beloved figure among many Catholics and a founder of Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, a conservative priestly order based in New York. He hosts a weekly show on the Eternal Word Television Network and has written 45 books.
The New York Times
Originally published August 30, 2012
A prominent Roman Catholic spiritual leader who has spent decades counseling wayward priests for the archdiocese provoked shock and outrage on Thursday as word spread of a recent interview he did with a Catholic newspaper during which he said that “youngsters” were often to blame when priests sexually abused them and that priests should not be jailed for such abuse on their first offense.
The Rev. Benedict Groeschel, who made the remarks, is a beloved figure among many Catholics and a founder of Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, a conservative priestly order based in New York. He hosts a weekly show on the Eternal Word Television Network and has written 45 books.
The comments were published on Monday by The National Catholic Register, which is owned by EWTN, a religious broadcaster based in Alabama.
“Suppose you have a man having a nervous breakdown, and a youngster comes after him,” Father Groeschel, now 79, said in the interview. “A lot of the cases, the youngster — 14, 16, 18 — is the seducer.”
He added that he was “inclined to think” that priests who were first-time abusers should not be jailed because “their intention was not committing a crime.”
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