St. Lucie teacher has students vote on whether 5-year-old can stay in class

5-year-old Alex Barton's teacher made him stand in front of his kindergarten class

and had his fellow students say what they didn't like about him

and then vote whether he should remain in the class.

PORT ST. LUCIE — Melissa Barton said she is considering legal action after her son's kindergarten teacher led his classmates to vote him out of class.

After each classmate was allowed to say what they didn't like about Barton's 5-year-old son, Alex, his Morningside Elementary teacher said they were going to take a vote, Barton said.

By a 14 to 2 margin, the class voted him out of the class.

Barton said her son is in the process of being diagnosed with Aspberger's, a type of high-functioning autism. Alex began the testing process in February for an official diagnosis under the suggestion of Morningside Principal Marsha Cully.

Alex has had disciplinary issues because of his disabilities, Barton said. The school and district has met with Barton and her son to create an individual education plan, she said. His teacher, Wendy Portillo, has attended these meetings, she said.

Barton said after the vote, Alex's teacher asked him how he felt.

"He said, 'I feel sad,'" she said.

Alex left the classroom and spent the rest of the day in the nurse's office, she said.

Barton said when she came to pick up her son at the school on Wednesday, he was leaving the nurse's office.

"He was shaken up," she said. Barton said the nurse told her to talk with the child's teacher, who told her what happened.

Alex hasn't been back to school since then, and Barton said he won't be returning. He starts screaming when she brings him with her to drop off his sibling at school.

Thursday night, his mother heard him saying "I'm not special."

Barton said Alex is reliving the incident.

They said he was "disgusting" and "annoying," Barton said.

"He was incredibly upset," Barton said. "The only friend he has ever made in his life was forced to do this."

The child's mother filed a complaint with the school resource officer, who investigated the matter, said Port St. Lucie spokeswoman Michelle Steele said. But the state attorney's office concluded the matter did not meet the criteria for emotional child abuse, so no criminal charges will be filed, Steele said. Port St. Lucie Police is no longer investigating, but is documenting the complaint, she said.

Steele said the teacher confirmed the incident did occur.

St. Lucie School's spokeswoman Janice Karst said the district is investigating the incident, but could not make any further comment.

Vern Melvin, Department of Children and Families circuit administrator, confirmed the agency is investigating an allegation of abuse at Morningside, but said he could not elaborate.

Original Article-

St. Lucie teacher has students vote on whether 5-year-old can stay in class : St. Lucie County : TCPalm

Healthy Mind

Woman describes treatment in Aguanga torture trial

FRENCH VALLEY ---- The daughter of an Aguanga man on trial for torture told jurors Monday that her father would make her eat her own vomit and feces while also periodically hanging her upside down for hours as a form of punishment.

Mansa Musa Muhummed, 55, shook his head back and forth several times Monday while listening to the testimony of daughter Sharon Boddie, now 27, at Southwest Justice Center.

Muhummed is charged with seven counts of torture, 12 counts of child abuse, four counts of spousal abuse and two counts of false imprisonment. He faces seven life sentences should he be convicted as charged.

Born Richard Boddie, he later began using his Muslim name of Muhummed. He was arrested by Riverside County sheriff's deputies in April 1999 at a property on Sweepstakes Lane in Aguanga after one of his three wives ---- two of whom prosecutors say were locked in a partitioned garage ---- was able to sneak a letter to a post office clerk.

Between the three "wives," Muhummed has more than a dozen children.

As several siblings have also testified to earlier in the trial, Sharon Boddie described Monday how she was often forced to use a bucket as a toilet as well as how her father withheld food for days and would beat them all severely.

She told the jury about a time she sneaked into the bathroom and her father grabbed her so violently by the hair that a fist full of hair was pulled from her head, leaving a bald spot she still has.

Deputy District Attorney Julie Baldwin asked Sharon Boddie if she ever saw her father with any weapons in the home.

She said her father would wave a handgun ---- sometimes inches from her face ---- and say, "I can kill all of ya and nobody would ever know."

Sharon Boddie also testified to seeing her father with a machete.

"Once, he tried to chop my arm off," she said. As Boddie answered, Muhummed could be seen and heard snickering slightly.

Sharon Boddie then described how one sister held her head down, another held one arm and her father the other arm as he threatened to cut it off with the machete.

Baldwin asked her why he did it.

"Because my stomach hurt and I wouldn't eat my food," she said.

The prosecutor later asked Boddie why she didn't tell deputies about what was happening in the home when her father was arrested more than nine years ago.

"I didn't think my daddy was really going to jail," she answered. When the prosecutor asked her why that was, she responded, "Because he always got away with it."

About a year after her father's April 1999 arrest, Sharon Boddie gave authorities details of what was going on. Baldwin asked why it took her so long.

"I finally realized he was really going to be in jail and I was finally going to have a life," Boddie said.

Boddie told jurors she could not read or write at the age of 18 when her father was arrested.

Since then, Boddie said, she has received help from others and joined the Job Corps, where she gained new skills.

"Are you working today?" Baldwin asked.

For possibly the first time after several hours on the witness stand, Boddie smiled broadly. "Yes, I am," she said, adding that she got her first job at age 23.

Her father's defense attorney, Peter Morreale, attacked portions of Boddie's testimony, including her statements about being forced to eat her vomit and feces.

Morreale asked if she ever told authorities about that since her father's arrest.

Boddie said she couldn't remember.

The defense attorney then went after Boddie's testimony about being hung upside down by her father in the basements of three different homes. Morreale told the woman that at least one home in Desert Hot Springs doesn't have a basement.

Boddie then describes there being cars and says she was hung "from the wood in the garage, basement, whatever it is."

Morreale showed Boddie a report written by a sheriff's investigator who notes that Boddie told him she was hung upside down for as long as five days.

Boddie said she didn't remember saying days, but being hung for hours while not being allowed to eat for days.

Muhummed's trial is scheduled to continue Tuesday morning before Judge Paul Dickerson. Jurors have been told they will likely begin deliberating the case in early June.

Original Article-

REGIONAL: Woman describes treatment in Aguanga torture trial : North County Times - Californian

Brothers testify about being starved, afraid in father's torture trial

An Aguanga father deprived his children of school, friends and toys and instead starved them for days, told them they would not go to heaven and locked them in a closet knowing one was terrified of the dark, two sons testified Monday.

During their father's trial on torture and abuse charges, brothers Christopher Boddie, 22, and Delmarcus Boddie, 32, described childhoods in which they had little contact with the outside world and a family life dominated by Mansa Muhummed's rules and punishments.

Delmarcus Boddie testified that his father, a Muslim, would not feed him for up to seven days. He said he stole food from the refrigerator at night while his father was asleep. When he got caught, Muhummed forced him to eat every piece of food he had stolen, Delmarcus Boddie testified.

He would eat until he got sick, then Muhummed would force him to consume what he regurgitated, Delmarcus Boddie testified.

Muhummed, 55, has pleaded not guilty to charges that include child abuse of 12 children, torture of seven children who were starved, spousal abuse and false imprisonment of two wives.

He was arrested in April 1999 at the home he shared with three wives and 19 children ranging in age from eight months to 25 years.

Muhummed faces seven life terms in prison if convicted of all charges.

Authorities arrested Muhummed at his home days after one of his wives sent a letter to county authorities detailing the abuse she and the children were suffering. Two of the wives were forced to live in the garage of the Aguanga home without regular access to bathrooms and little food, Laura Cowan has testified.

Defense attorney Pete Morreale asked Christopher Boddie why he never told police he had been abused after his father's arrest.

"I denied at first. I said he wasn't doing anything," Christopher Boddie said.

"You had the ability and the opportunity to say what you wanted to?" Morreale asked.

"Yes," Christopher Boddie replied.

Prosecutor Julie Baldwin asked him why he denied being abused.

"Because I love my dad. I didn't want to see him go to jail," Christopher Boddie said.

"But, you wanted to get out of the situation," she asked.

"Yes," he said.

Christopher Boddie testified that he was afraid of the dark. His father would exploit that fear when punishing him for breaking a rule or for running away from home when he was 10, he said.

"My dad threw us in closet and keep us there a day or a night," he said.

That happened frequently, he said.

After trying to run away from home, he was deprived of food and made to stay in a dark room with the door closed, Christopher Boddie testified.

"Was it known by your family that you were afraid of the dark?" Baldwin asked.

"Yes," he said.

Morreale asked if being deprived of food, beaten and locked in dark rooms was Muhummed's way of disciplining him for violating his rules. Christopher Boddie said it was.

The trial is scheduled to resume today at the Southwest Justice Center in French Valley.

Original Article -

REGIONAL: Woman describes treatment in Aguanga torture trial : North County Times - Californian

Ban alarmed by UN sexual abuse

UN chief Ban Ki-moon today expressed deep concern about a British charity report alleging under-reporting of child sexual abuse by aid workers and peacekeepers.

His press office said Mr Ban "is deeply concerned" by the Save the Children report.

"The abuse of children by those sent to help is a significant and painful issue and one that UN peacekeeping has and will continue to address candidly, comprehensively and robustly. Even one incident is one incident too many," it said.

The statement said the world body was committed to training and monitoring its civilian staff and working with its troop and police contributing countries "to ensure that all categories of UN personnel are both trained in and are accountable for the highest standards of conduct".

In its report, Save the Children said "children as young as six are trading sex with aid workers and peacekeepers in exchange for food, money, soap and, in very few cases, luxury items such as mobile phones".

It also highlighted instances of rape, verbal sexual abuse, child pornography and prostitution and trafficking of youngsters, many of whom are poor, displaced or orphaned by conflict.

The group said the scale of abuse was "significant".

But in Abidjan, the deputy UN high commissioner for human rights, Kang Kyung-wha, said that "a lot of information contained in the (Save the Children) report is actually based upon already published information" in Mr Ban's past reports.

"Any form of sexual exploitation, especially of children, is totally unacceptable and impunity for such abuses must not be tolerated," she said at the end of a three-day visit to Ivory Coast.

But she stressed the need for "credible information and evidence" before launching investigations.

"We have to protect the integrity and the honour of UN staff (who) at the end of the day, in many cases, could be the victims of false allegations and rumours," Ms Kang said.

Original Article-

Ban alarmed by UN sexual abuse The Australian

Texas appeal says FLDS families are flight risks

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Families of children seized from their polygamist sect's ranch could flee Texas if they regain custody, child welfare authorities said Tuesday as they urged the state Supreme Court to block a ruling that found the massive removals to be improper.

Updating an earlier appeal, Texas Child Protective Services lawyers argued that if the custody orders are rescinded, parents could take the children out of the state and "no Texas court would have any authority to enter any orders to protect these children."

The Third District Court of Appeals ruled last week that the state failed to show that the youngsters were in any immediate danger, the only grounds under Texas law for taking children from their parents without court action.

The state filed its initial appeal Friday, arguing that Texas law gave a lower-court judge discretion on whether to remove the children.

About 440 children were taken into custody from the sect's Yearning For Zion Ranch near Eldorado more than six weeks ago after someone called a hot line claiming to be a pregnant, abused teenage wife. The girl has not been found and authorities are investigating whether the calls were hoaxes.

Child welfare authorities have argued that all the youngsters should be removed from the ranch because the sect forces underage girls into marriage and sex. Members of the sect, the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, claim they are being persecuted for their religious beliefs, including that polygamy brings glorification in heaven.

The FLDS has broken away from the Mormon church, which renounced polygamy more than a century ago. FLDS members are concentrated in two towns along the Arizona-Utah line, but there also are enclaves in Colorado, South Dakota and British Columbia.

The appeals court ruling against the state technically applied only to the 124 children of 38 mothers who filed the complaint. State officials acknowledged Tuesday that it could harm their case with the hundreds of other children from the ranch.

The state's court filing Tuesday also said DNA testing of potential parents of the children is not yet complete and that children could be returned to sexual predators if the court doesn't rule in its favor. The first DNA results are expected next week.

Original Article-

The Associated Press: Texas appeal says FLDS families are flight risks

Feds settle 3 child-porn cases

SAN DIEGO – U.S. Attorney Karen P. Hewitt on Tuesday announced the disposition of three child-pornography cases, including ones involving a former San Diego County employee and a former Miramar-based Marine.

One case involves Lawrence Lester Nixon, 46, of Poway, who is scheduled to be sentenced Aug. 25 after pleading guilty in federal court to one count of possession of child pornography.

According to court records, Nixon admitted that he had a computer that contained more than 600 sexually explicit images of minors, some as young as 3 years old. At the time, Nixon was working for the county's digital photography department, Hewitt said in a prepared statement.
In the second case, Daniel Joseph Tarchala, 26, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Marilyn L. Huff to 41 months in prison followed by five years of supervised release. Tarchala was an active-duty Marine stationed at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar who was living in El Cajon.

Tarchala pleaded guilty March 4 to possessing a computer containing 300 to 600 sexually explicit images of minors, some ages 5 or 6.

In the third case, Nathan Morgan, 29, identified as an unemployed resident of El Centro, was sentenced by Huff to 41 months in custody followed by five years of supervised release. Morgan pleaded guilty Feb. 11 to possessing a computer with about 150 sexually explicit images of minors, some as young as 8.

Hewitt said that in the past year, prosecutions of child pornography cases by the U.S. Attorney's Office in San Diego has increased about 40 percent.

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SignOnSanDiego.com > News > Metro -- Feds settle 3 child-porn cases