Friday, June 27, 2014

Spicing Up the Day in Danvers

"Man allegedly put hot sauce in boy’s mouth, taped it shut" by Faiz Siddiqui | Globe correspondent   June 19, 2014

DANVERS — The 21-year-old beat the child and put hot sauce in his mouth and taped it shut, before leaving him alone, prosecutors said Wednesday. He is being held on $250,000 bail, and is due back in court July 16.

His girlfriend — Katherine Rodriguez, 20 — was arraigned Thursday on charges of permitting assault and battery on a child and abandoning a child under 10, said Carrie Kimball Monahan, a spokeswoman for Essex District Attorney Jonathan W. Blodgett.

Attempts to reach relatives of Rodriguez were unsuccessful Thursday.

In an interview with ABC News 5, the boy’s grandmother, Leeann West, said she was skeptical of the claims. From what she saw, the 4-year-old was not mistreated, she said.

“Katie is a good mom,” West said of her daughter.

Of her grandson, she said, “He is rambunctious and handsome.”

Christopher Delcid, who is not the boy’s biological father, works for the Chelsea Housing Authority, and Rodriguez is an employee of Walmart in Danvers, the report said.

Police were called to the Extended Stay America hotel in Danvers at about 1:47 p.m. Tuesday after hearing from Delcid’s sister that he was abusing his girlfriend’s son.

Then they were homeless among$t $uch $plendid wealth?

When officers arrived at the hotel, they heard a television inside Room 234, but no one answered repeated knocks, police said. The manager of the hotel, much of which is used as housing for homeless people, let them into the room.

Inside, they found the boy, who told the officers that Delcid and his mother were out with friends, police said, and had the couple’s two children with them. Noticing the bruises and abrasions, officers called an ambulance.

Delcid and Roderiguez arrived at North Shore Children’s Hospital in Salem about 45 minutes after being told what had happened. Delcid was taken to a hospital room and arrested, police said.

Delcid told police he thought the boy’s father is in jail. He denied causing the bruises, but admitted he had whipped the child with a belt. He said the only other time the couple had left the boy alone was when they had gone food shopping, police said.

Should have gone to work for the government. Then you get absolved.

Chalmers said in the report that a black-and-blue mark under the boy’s eye would be “indicative of someone punching him in the face.”

Police asked the boy to show them his buttocks. The entire right side was black and blue, the report said.

The boy allegedly said Delcid hit him often with a black belt.

Officers found “all kinds of reddening” around the 4-year-old’s wrists and small abrasions that would be associated with taped wrists. The boy said Delcid had tied his hands together, the report said.

During an interview with police, the boy said that Delcid told his mother he wished the child had never been born.

That is a terrible thing to say to anyone. That is one of the most hurtful things you could ever say no matter what a person's age.

“Daddy says I’m bad every day,” he told police during an interview.

A judge set bail at $100,000 and ordered Rodriguez to stay away from her son and all witnesses included in the police report. Rodriguez is due back in court on July 16.

All three children are in the custody of the Department of Children and Families, said a spokeswoman.

I'm trying to be more positive about such things so I'm sure they can take the heat.

--more--" 

No way you can be positive about this:

"Philip Chism allegedly choked, beat state worker" by Laura Crimaldi | Globe staff   June 19, 2014

A prosecutor raised concerns about the safety of people around a 15-year-old Danvers boy accused of raping and killing his high school math teacher in newly released court documents that provide more detail about his alleged assault of a female counselor at a juvenile detention facility.

Essex County prosecutors asked a judge to recommend that Worcester Recovery Center and Hospital impose strict security precautions for Philip Chism while he undergoes a mental health evaluation there, according to court papers made public Thursday.

But Superior Court Judge Howard Whitehead ruled after a hearing June 10 that the request from prosecutors was beyond the court’s authority.

In making the argument, lead prosecutor Kate Berrigan MacDougall described how Chism allegedly followed a female counselor June 2 into a staff bathroom at a Department of Youth Services facility in Boston where he was being held and attacked her.

“In order to do so, he took steps to elude other staff that were believed to be observing him . . . creeping along a common hallway crouched down out of view of observers,” MacDougall wrote in an affidavit filed June 10 in Salem Superior Court. She also wrote that she told a DYS official on Nov. 20 that she had concerns about about him being alone with female staff.

Chism has pleaded not guilty to charges that he raped and murdered 24-year-old Danvers High School math teacher Colleen Ritzer on Oct. 22. He was awaiting trial in DYS custody, but two days after the alleged attack on the counselor, he was ordered by Whitehead to undergo a 30-day evaluation at Worcester Recovery Center and Hospital. The order expires July 4.

During the assault, Chism choked and beat the counselor around the head and face before being restrained by staff, MacDougall wrote. She added that Chism was armed with a pencil.

The incident is being investigated by State Police assigned to Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley, said his spokesman, Jake Wark.

“We do expect that the matter will be charged,” he said.

DYS spokesman Alec Loftus said in a statement that the safety and well-being of its staff is a primary concern.

“A full review of this incident will be conducted to identify any necessary security enhancements at the facility,” he said.

Chism’s defense attorney, Denise Regan, declined to comment. A spokesman for Ritzer’s family referred questions to prosecutors.

Whitehead made the court filings public Thursday in response to a request made by The Salem News.

The court papers also show MacDougall asked a judge to recommend that Worcester Recovery Center and Hospital not let Chism go anywhere in the facility or on its grounds that is not secure and locked; prohibit him from being left alone with female patients or staff; and not allow him to be located anywhere he might gain access to female staff.

She also asked the judge to recommend the hospital not let Chism leave the facility unless there is a court order in place and the Essex County Sheriff’s Department is notified.

MacDougall cited concerns from prosecutors about the level of supervision at the facility for criminal defendants there who were detained under the state’s dangerousness law. She gave an example of one such defendant who was given a day pass to leave hospital grounds without prosecutors or the court being notified.

In another case involving a defendant being prosecuted in Middlesex County, MacDougall wrote that the person was allowed to attend a parent’s funeral without prosecutors or the court being notified. She wrote it was also unclear whether sheriff’s department staff escorted him, or whether hospital staff brought him there.

“This defendant was alleged to have committed a series of increasingly violent sexual attacks on women in public places,” MacDougall said.

The hospital is operated by the state Department of Mental Health. Spokeswoman Anna Chinappi said it was a new, state-of-the-art, locked mental health treatment facility with controlled perimeter security and units that are monitored around the clock by staff.

“Patients admitted for court-ordered evaluations are limited to certain areas and never allowed independent access to any part of the facility,” she said.

--more--" 


We owed 'em one!

"Lawyers for Danvers teen want charges dismissed

Lawyers for a Danvers teenager charged with raping and killing his math teacher plan to ask a judge to dismiss the charges. Attorneys for Philip Chism, 16, told a judge Monday that they plan to file a motion to dismiss, which will be argued at a hearing scheduled for Aug. 12. The Salem News reported that defense attorneys said they also plan to file a motion to suppress nearly all the evidence in the case, including the initial stop of Chism as he walked along Route 1 in the hours after the killing. Chism is charged with robbing, raping and killing 24-year-old Danvers High School teacher Colleen Ritzer last October."

Also seePhilip Chism showed signs of psychosis, report says