Brooklyn mom denies involvement in case of missing son, but offers information on possible locations

Oates for News

Jennifer Rodriguez denies she had anything to do with the disappearance of her son, 7-year-old Patrick Alford (click the link at the bottom of the page, for his pic and full article.)

A Brooklyn mom jailed in the disappearance of her 7-year-old son still denies she spirited him away from a foster home - but coughed up some addresses where he might be hiding.

The judge who sent her to Rikers Island wasn't satisfied, and ruled Friday that Jennifer Rodriguez will stay behind bars at least until another hearing on Monday.

"She wants to continue to cooperate. I've asked her to rack her brain," Rodriguez's lawyer, Anthony Morisano, said in Staten Island Family Court.

"But she can only provide what she knows."

The boy, Patrick Alford, vanished Jan. 22 from the lobby of the Spring Creek Development in Starrett City, Brooklyn, where he was living with a foster family.

Rodriguez denied she had anything to do with it, but the Administration for Children's Services doesn't believe her, and Judge Terrence McElrath tossed her in jail for contempt.

"I don't believe bail is appropriate under civil contempt," McElrath said as her lawyer pleaded for her release at a hearing Friday.

"The purpose of civil contempt is to hold someone until they comply."

Rodriguez lost custody of Patrick after she was arrested on theft charges and ACS found he was neglected and put him in foster care.

The day after he disappeared, Rodriguez knocked on the door of the foster home - even though she supposedly didn't know where he lived, ACS caseworker Carlene Anderson testified Friday.

Rodriguez had also asked her son in a phone call what public transportation he took while staying with the foster family.

"The mother was trying to find out how they traveled," the caseworker said.

Relatives say they found the foster family's apartment by accident - while handing out missing posters - and that Rodriguez was not with them.

"I just hope he's safe, warm and okay," said Patrick's aunt Claudia Ortiz, 29. "He's a beautiful kid. He and his sister love, adore, their mother.

"Jennifer would do anything for those kids," she said.

The NYPD has been scouring the neighborhood and family addresses in Florida and Baltimore, hoping to find the grade-schooler.

They have also deployed helicopters and boats in nearby swamps on the premise that Patrick wandered away on his own - which McElrath doubts.

"I don't think a 7-year-old is out on his own in this cold weather caring for himself," the judge said. "He's with someone."

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2010/01/30/2010-01-30_judge_not_buying_mas_story_denies_abducting_7yrold_offers_potential_locales.html#ixzz0e8uzbdMr

Jury hears Lippe on recording: Wife 'doesn't exist'

Werner Lippe told a friend that he killed his wife at 8:15 a.m., after she took their children to school and returned home, by knocking her out and burning her in a backyard barrel, according to a recording played to a Westchester County jury.

"Eight-thirty, everything was in the barrel, and I didn't do anything anymore," Lippe said on the recording, heard by the jury Wednesday in White Plains.

Lippe, 68, a jewelry designer from Cortlandt, is on trial on a murder charge in the death of his wife, Faith Lippe, a 49-year-old nutritionist for the Ossining schools. The Lippes, married for 18 years, were going through a divorce and custody battle when Werner Lippe reported his wife missing Oct. 4, 2008.

He told police that he saw his wife leaving the house at 1:45 p.m. Oct. 3 with a Manila envelope and getting into a dark-colored vehicle, leaving her purse behind.

But prosecutors say Lippe killed his wife that morning and incinerated her body behind their home on Little Lake Road. Lippe's defense lawyer has said the confession was a lie created by paranoia and fear that he was being set up and has pointed to a lack of forensic evidence.

The jury on Wednesday heard from Lippe's longtime friend James Learnihan, a 54-year-old Catskill resident who wore a police wire during several conversations with Lippe in October 2008.

He told the jury how both his family and the Lippes frequented Hunter Mountain, a ski resort in the Catskills, and how close their families were for 14 years. He said state police called him and asked him to wear a wire.

Learnihan, who has served in the Navy, Army and National Guard, described how he duped Lippe into thinking that his military buddies could find information that would clear him as a suspect.

He said his friends could get high-quality satellite images of the neighborhood on the day Faith Lippe vanished, and he showed Werner Lippe a satellite image of his house on the Internet from Google.

"They're going to see everything that happened," he told Lippe on the tape. "We're going to get to the truth."

When asked on the witness stand how Lippe reacted to seeing his house on the Internet, Learnihan replied, "He was somewhat shocked."

On Oct. 25, Lippe called Learnihan from the road, saying he wanted to talk. Learnihan said he took his tape recorder and met Lippe at a Sunoco gas station, where Lippe started crying.

"What happened?" Learnihan asked.

"I'm too embarrassed to say," Lippe replied on tape.

"Did someone take her? You've got to level with me."

"She doesn't exist."

Learnihan broke down and wept on the witness stand.

Lippe later explained what he meant in an Oct. 29 conversation that Learnihan also caught on tape. Lippe said on tape that he struck his wife outside with a stick, used it as leverage to push her into the barrel and then lit a fire.

"Jim, I'm not proud of this," he said on the tape. "I have to live with this for the rest of my life."

He faces 25 years to life in prison if convicted.

Original link with related articles-

Jury hears Lippe on recording: Wife 'doesn't exist' LoHud.com The Journal News

Millions of Bottles of Tylenol Recalled

January 15, 2010 – Do you have a bottle of Tylenol on your shelf? If so, you might want to check the label. Johnson & Johnson has expanded a recall of their over-the-counter medications, thanks to a moldy smell that is making users sick. This is the second time the company has done recalled Tylenol in less than a month.

A complete list of the recalled products and their lot numbers can be viewed here. To see if your bottle of Tylenol is affected, check the lot number on the sticker that’s placed on the product’s bottle.

The recall began last month with the popular Tylenol arthritis caplet and expanded this morning to include more than two dozen medications that are manufactured by McNeil Healthcare LLC. According to the company, about 54 million bottles of over-the-counter medication were added to the recall, which boosts the total number of recalled items to 60 million.

The voluntary recall began in December, after some consumers complained of stomach problems. Their upset stomachs were linked to the presence of a chemical that is caused by the wood pallets that are used to transport and store packaging materials for the drugs.

McNeil Healthcare added that the musty-smelling chemical posted no fatal risk to those who ingested it. Symptoms include vomiting and diarrhea.

In its statement, the company advised consumers who purchased the recalled items to stop using them immediately and contact McNeil for information about how they can obtain a refund or a replacement.

The Food and Drug Administration is criticizing the company for failing to respond quickly to complaints about the musty odor, which date as far back as 2008.

Among other varieties, the recalled products include:

Tylenol Extra Strength Caplets
Tylenol Arthritis Caplets
Tylenol Extra Strength PM Caplets
Motrin IB

If you have any questions about the Tylenol recall, call the Johnson & Johnson McNeil consumer call center at 1-888-222-6036. The Food and Drug Administration’s website keeps an up-to-date list of all the consumer products that pose a health risk, so be sure to check it out and see if any of the products in your home pose a health risk.

Lastly, be sure to consult your health care professional if you have any concerns about the medication that’s on your shelf. After all, medicine is designed to help, not hurt you!

Millions of Bottles of Tylenol Recalled Top Colleges Blog#none

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F & F Supporter Triumphs in Vicious False DV Accusations/Family Law Case

January 4th, 2010 by Glenn Sacks, MA, Executive Director


Gonzalez’s lawyer, Denise Placencio, argued that West staged the entire incident because of a bitter child-custody dispute.

In an interview, Placencio said the recent December court decision that ordered West to pay Gonzalez should serve as a “cautionary tale” to anyone tempted to make false allegations.

“The truth will come out and there will be consequences, consequences in the custody courtroom and consequences to the wallet,” Placencio said.

She said her client faced the possibility of five life sentences in prison as a result of West’s criminal complaint. Gonzalez couldn’t see or speak to his son until October 2008 because of the criminal charges and West’s filing of the request for a permanent restraining order against him.

Score one for the good guys. Louis Gonzalez’s ex accused him of sexually assaulting her, burning her with matches, and other violence, and the whole DV/family law/criminal law machinery swung into action against him. Fortunately he had a strong attorney, Denise Placencio, on his side.

Placencio, a longtime Fathers & Families supporter who has endorsed and participated in our campaigns dating back to the LaMusga campaign in 2004, first told me about this case last year. When she did, it sounded grim. Now, Gonzalez and his 8-year-old son emerge victorious. From False accusation will cost woman $55,000 (Ventura County Star, 1/2/10):

A Ventura County judge has ordered a woman to pay her former boyfriend more than $55,000 after she falsely accused him of raping and brutalizing her in Simi Valley in 2008 during a child-custody dispute.

The money is for attorney’s fees and travel expenses after Tracy West requested a permanent restraining order against Louis Gonzalez and then dismissed the allegations just before the matter was set for trial.

Ventura County Superior Court Judge John R. Smiley in December ordered West to pay Gonzalez $55,872. She had filed the civil court action in May 2008, requesting the court order and claiming he “perpetrated a horrific physical attack” against her.

West filed the paperwork seeking the restraining order a month after criminal charges against Gonzalez were dismissed. He was arrested on Feb. 1, 2008, and was held in jail without bail until a judge dismissed the charges on April 23, 2008.

West was Gonzalez’s former girlfriend. West and Gonzalez, senior vice president of a Las Vegas bank, had a child together.

West told Simi Valley Police Department detectives that Gonzalez ran up to her at her home on Feb. 1, 2008, hit her on the head and knocked her unconscious, then dragged her in the house. She told detectives Gonzalez sexually assaulted her, burned her with matches and committed other violence.

The criminal case against him fell apart after his private investigator found 10 witnesses who were ready to testify that they saw Gonzalez in other locations at the time of the alleged attack.

The witnesses included workers at a car-rental agency, three teachers at a school Gonzalez’s son attends, a deli owner, a Simi Valley bank executive and a business acquaintance of Gonzalez. Video recordings showing Gonzalez at a Las Vegas airport and a bank also cast doubt on West’s claims.

In January 2009, Ventura County Superior Court Judge Patricia Murphy found Gonzalez “factually innocent” of the alleged crimes. The judge found no “reasonable cause exists” to believe he committed the actions.

Gonzalez’s lawyer, Denise Placencio, argued that West staged the entire incident because of a bitter child-custody dispute…

Gonzalez is now in a Las Vegas court seeking sole custody of the couple’s 8-year-old son. A custody hearing is set for February…

Placencio said she was disappointed that the Ventura County District Attorney didn’t prosecute West. Placencio said she wrote a letter in October 2008 to the District Attorney’s Office, saying she had evidence that West committed perjury.

West had accused Gonzalez of breaking her shoulder in the alleged attack, but “her medical records reveal that she broke her shoulder diving into the shallow end of a swimming pool,” Placencio said.

The district attorney declined to prosecute West and closed the case against Gonzalez, an official said.

This is about as outrageous and clear a case of perjury as you’re going to find–the falsely accused man faced the possibility of five life sentences in prison, and was jailed without bail for nearly three months. It’s disappointing (but sadly not surprising) that the DA declined to prosecute the false accuser.


F & F Supporter Triumphs in Vicious False DV Accusations/Family Law Case « Fathers & Families

My two cents.. this is an awesome story! It' high time these lying bastards pay!

Maybe someone else that wants to file false claims will think twice now!

False allegations of D.V. or child abuse destroy lives.. no one should get away with it!

A Poem...

As most of my readers know I'm writing a book.. so of course I've been MIA with an exception here and there.. welll today is one of those exceptions.. I was reading about Reactive Attachment Disorder ( R.A.D.) It's a very interesting subject.. it fits in with the Trauma Bonding, The Stockholm Syndrome, Parent Alienation Syndrome, and on and on-- there's just to many names out there for the same set of behaviors it's ridiculous!

Anywho.. check out this poem..

Please Hear What I'm Not Saying

Don't be fooled by me.
Don't be fooled by the face I wear
For I wear a mask -
A mask that I'm afraid to take off.
Pretending is an art that's second nature with me..
But don't be fooled.

I give you the impression that I'm secure.
That all is sunny and unruffled with me, within as well as without.
That confidence is my name and coolness is my game.
That the water's calm and I'm in command.
And that I need no one.
But don't believe me.......Please.

My surface may seem smooth, but my surface is my mask.
Beneath swells the real me in confusion - in fear - alone - in pain.
But I hide this; I don't want anybody to know it.
I panic at the thought of my weakness; fears and pain being exposed.
That's why I frantically create a mask to hide behind.

I need help....help that is followed by caring from people who care enough to help me.
It's the only thing that can liberate me. From myself; from my own self-built prison walls.
From the barriers I so painstakingly erect.

It's the only thing that will assure me of what I can't assure myself - that I'm really worth something.

But I don't tell you this. I don't dare. I'm afraid to.
I'm afraid you'll think less of me and that you'll laugh. And your laugh would hurt me.
I'm afraid that deep-down I'm nothing, that I'm just no good. And that you'll see this and reject me.
So I play my game, my desperate game, with a mask of assurance without.
And a trembling child within.

I dislike hiding. Honestly.
I dislike the superficial game I'm playing, the superficial, phony game.
I'd really like to be genuine and spontaneous...and me.
But you've got to help me.
You've got to hold out your hand even when that's the last thing I seem to want or need.
Only you can wipe away from my eyes the emptiness and pain I try not to feel.
Only you can help me.
Each time you're kind, and gentle, and encouraging.
Each time you try to understand because you really care my heart begins to grow wings.
Very small wings; very feeble wings. But wings.

With your sensitivity and sympathy, and your power of understanding, you can breathe life into me.
I want you to know that.
I want you to know how important you are to me.
How you can be the creator of the person that is me if you choose to.
Please choose to.
You alone can break down the wall from behind which I tremble. You alone can remove my mask.
You alone can release me from my shadow world of panic and uncertainty - from my lonely prison.
So do not pass me by. Please do not pass me by.
It will not be easy for you.

A long conviction of worthlessness and anger builds strong walls.
The nearer you approach to me the blinder I may strike back. It's irrational. Sometimes I'm irrational.
I fight against the very thing I cry out for.
But I am told that love, caring, and kindness are stronger than strong walls; in this lies my hope.
My only hope.
Please try to beat down those walls with firm hands, but with gentle hands, for a child is very sensitive.

Who am I, you may wonder. I am someone you know very well.

I am every man and every woman you meet!

Original Link Below
Attachment Disorder Site - providing hope and support.

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