Child care worker accused of raping boy - Texas

Blogger note:

Just because a daycare is registered somewhere or licensed by the state should not make you feel all that safe. We know a registered day care that has a 2ce convicted felon running it. How does that happen? The felony background check only goes back 5 years in the situation we are talking about. The felonies of this daycare provider ocurred in the 1970's and 1980's. We also know of state run daycare centers that have had many violations, some of which were harm inflicted on our family members while in their care. Foster children who go to the state licensed daycares are subjected to horrendous abuse and no one does anything about it. So be careful! Know your daycare provider and know them well.
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By Ana Ley

Police arrested a child-care worker accused of repeatedly raping and threatening an 11-year-old boy.

Bradley Bendele, 32, was arrested Friday night and charged with continuous sexual abuse of a young child, a first-degree felony.

According to an arrest warrant affidavit, Bendele raped the boy while he cared for him.

Bendele runs a child-care business, authorities said, though it does not appear to be licensed through the state's Department of Family and Protective Services.

The boy told police Bendele threatened several times to kill him and his family if he reported the attacks, according to the affidavit.

Bendele remained at Bexar County Jail on Saturday afternoon in lieu of $100,000 bail.

Child Protective Services spokeswoman Mary Walker said the Child Care Licensing division of the state's Department of Family and Protective Services is investigating the suspect's business as a potential illegal operation.

“It's so important for folks to go online and check out day care facilities and make sure they're registered and licensed by the state,” Walker said. “It's important for parents to know who they are leaving their children with.”

Source http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/article/Child-care-worker-accused-of-raping-boy-2671456.php

Doctor at Austin State Hospital accused of child sex abuse - Texas

By Andrea Ball and Eric Dexheimer

The state Department of Family and Protective Services has accused a longtime staff child psychiatrist for the Austin State Hospital of sexually abusing at least one child in his care, and investigators from an independent oversight agency have opened a wider inquiry into accusations from at least eight possible victims dating back a decade.

The state agency alerted hospital officials three weeks ago that it had confirmed that Dr. Charles Fischer had been involved in two separate instances of sexual abuse, said Patrick Crimmins, a spokesman for the agency. The agency terms an incident "confirmed" if its investigation shows the allegation is supported by a preponderance of the evidence.

Carrie Williams, a spokeswoman for the Department of State Health Services, which runs the Austin hospital, said Fischer, 59, was fired effective Monday.

The state hospital is a residential facility for people with mental illness. The child and adolescent unit where Fischer worked houses youths up to the age of 18. The Adult Protective Services division of the Department of Family and Protective Services is required by law to investigate allegations of abuse and neglect in state hospitals.

Crimmins said police have been notified of the agency's findings; however, an Austin police spokeswoman said Fischer has not been charged with any crimes.

Contacted at his West Lake Hills home, Fischer declined to comment. "You'll have to ask the hospital about that," he said.

The Texas Medical Board, which licenses physicians, shows Fischer has an unblemished disciplinary record. Details of the case against Fischer were still unclear late Wednesday. Williams did not say when the two confirmed incidents occurred, how they were confirmed, if the youth was a boy or a girl, or whether he or she was still a hospital resident.

But, she said, Fischer, who earned $185,000 a year from the state, had been accused of sexually abusing patients in the past.

"There were previous allegations against Dr. Fischer over the years," she said. "Each was reported and investigated outside the agency, but the allegations were never confirmed."

Crimmins said the Department of Family and Protective Services investigated each of the abuse allegations as they became known.

"We have received several reports alleging sexual abuse by Dr. Charles Fischer dating back several years. In each instance in which sexual abuse by Dr. Fischer was alleged, law enforcement was notified at the time of the initial report, and again when a finding was made," he wrote in an email response to questions.

"Each case was investigated thoroughly, but none were confirmed until October, when two separate allegations of sexual abuse against Dr. Fischer were confirmed, and the Department of State Health Services was notified."

A spokeswoman for the state Health and Human Services Commission said the agency's internal investigative arm was looking into the abuse allegations. Stephanie Goodman declined to say whether the Office of Inspector General was investigating the incidents of alleged abuse or the agency's response to them.

And on Wednesday, Disability Rights Texas — a nonprofit organization officially designated by the federal government to protect the rights of the state's disabled — said it had launched an inquiry into cases involving eight potential victims in incidents involving Fischer dating back to 2001. Because of its federal affiliation, the organization has access to records at state hospitals and can bring lawsuits against the state on behalf of people with disabilities.

Beth Mitchell, an attorney for the organization, said she did not yet know if the eight cases it had been notified of included the two abuse incidents confirmed by the Department of Family and Protective Services.

"We are all heartbroken over these allegations," Williams said. "These kids come to us to heal, and the situation is very sad and extremely troubling for everyone involved."

State records show Fischer received his medical license in 1978 from the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio. He completed a residency in general psychiatry and further specialized training in child psychiatry, the records show.

http://www.statesman.com/news/local/doctor-at-austin-state-hospital-accused-of-child-1974447.html

Police Won't File Charges Against Texas Judge Caught on Video Beating Daughter

Associated Press

Police say a Texas judge who was secretly videotaped beating his teenage daughter seven years ago won't face charges because the statutes of limitations have passed.

Rockport Police Chief Tim Jayroe said Thursday that Aransas County Court-at-Law Judge William Adams likely would have been charged with causing injury to a child and other assault offenses if the five-year statutes of limitations hadn't expired.

Adams is still being investigated by the state Department of Family and Protective Services, which has requested he not preside over any of its cases.

Adams' 23-year-old daughter, Hillary, posted the 8-minute clip of the 2004 beating on YouTube last week that shows her father savagely lash her 17 times with a belt.

Hillary Adams says that until last week, only a couple of close friends knew about the savage beating she received seven years ago from her father, a Texas judge who handles child abuse cases.

Adams says the outpouring of support and encouragement she's received since posting the video online last week is tempered by the sadness that it's her father lashing her with a belt and threatening to beat her "into submission." The video had been watched nearly 2 million times by Thursday morning.

"I'm experiencing some regret because I just pulled the covers off my own father's misbehavior after so many people thought he was such a good person. ... But so many people are also telling me I did the right thing," she told The Associated Press outside her mother's home in the Gulf Coast town of Portland, near Corpus Christi.

"He's supposed to be a judge who exercises fit judgment," she said."I cannot stress enough -- I cannot repeat myself enough, that he just needs help."

And she said the videoed attack was not a one-off. "It did happen regularly for a period of time," she told NBC's "Today" show on Thursday.

In the same interview, Hallie Adams blamed her ex-husband's bouts of violence on his "addiction," calling it a "family secret." She did not elaborate. Their 22-year marriage ended in 2007.

The judge did not return an AP reporter's call seeking comment early Thursday.

Police in Rockport, where the 51-year-old judge lives, opened an investigation Wednesday after receiving calls from several concerned citizens, Police Chief Tim Jayroe said.

William Adams has been receiving threatening phone calls and faxes at the courthouse since the video went online, Aransas County Sheriff Bill Mills said.

No one answered the door Wednesday at the judge's home, repeated calls to his office rang unanswered and his attorney, William Dudley, did not respond to phone messages seeking comment. A neighbor said she saw Adams and his girlfriend packing luggage, a briefcase and rifles into their truck.

Corpus Christi television station KZTV caught up with the judge while he was getting into his vehicle Wednesday, and he confirmed it was him in the video. But he said it "looks worse than it is" and that he doesn't expect to be disciplined.

"In my mind, I haven't done anything wrong other than discipline my child after she was caught stealing," Adams said. "And I did lose my temper, but I've since apologized."

When told of her father's comments, Hillary Adams said, "it's a shining perfect example of his personality and he believes he can do no wrong. ... He will cover up rather than admit to what he did and try to come clean."

She stressed that she did not post the video as revenge and does not want her father punished. Rather, she did it because she thinks it will force him to seek help, and because he has been harassing her and she thought posting the clip would make that stop.

"We need to reach out to victims and the abusers themselves to get people to realize what it actually is," she said. Hillary, who was 16 at the time, said she secretly videotaped the beating in her bedroom because she "knew something was about to happen." She says her parents were angry at her for using her computer to download pirated content over the Internet.

In the clip's opening seconds, William Adams is heard telling Hillary's mother, "Go get the belt. The big one. I'm going to spank her now." With belt in hand, he turns off the light and tries forcing his daughter to bend over the bed to be beaten, but she refuses.

"Lay down or I'll spank you in your (expletive) face," Adams screams while he lashes her with sweeping blows across the legs, ignoring her wails and pleas for him to stop.

A few minutes into the video, Hillary's mother barks at her to "turn over like a 16-year-old and take it! Like a grown woman!" For about a minute, the ordeal appears to have ended after both parents leave the room and shut the door. But the judge then storms back into the room and the beating resumes.

Hallie Adams said she was "completely brainwashed and controlled" by her ex-husband.

"I did every single thing that he did," she told NBC. Hillary Adams said she is not angry at her mother.

Child advocates roundly condemned the beating as abuse. But investigators may decide that the judge's actions, while shocking, weren't criminal.

The lines between what's deemed child abuse and what's considered an acceptable level of discipline differ across the country and among various social groups, though the use of objects such as belts and sticks is usually seen as beyond any normal physical punishment, said David Finkelhor, a University of New Hampshire sociology professor who heads the school's Crimes against Children Research Center.

Adams, Aransas County's top judge, was elected in 2001 and has dealt with at least 349 family law cases in the past year alone, nearly 50 of which involved state caseworkers seeking determine whether parents were fit to raise their children.

Patrick Crimmins, a spokesman for the state Department of Family and Protective Services, said in an email that the agency is aware of the video and "will take the appropriate steps in this matter." He said the agency would have no further comment.

Source http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/11/03/texas-judge-caught-on-video-beating-daughter-needs-help/