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Showing posts with label child abuse. Show all posts
Showing posts with label child abuse. Show all posts

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Tampa Bay Criminal Defense Lawyer - Parents of the Year?

By Nicholas Dorsten, Esq.

From the St. Petersburg Times online site, a short discussion on is it legal and if so, why the arrest?

ST. PETERSBURG, Florida — A couple is accused of allowing two young boys to smoke synthetic marijuana , also known as K2, almost 20 times in the past month, according to the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office.

The man, 37, and woman, 24, were arrested Monday on child abuse charges. The boys, who were in the couple's care, were 9 and 10, at the time of the offense(s).

Deputies went to the couple's home in St. Petersburg to investigate reports that the man was allowing the two boys to smoke the synthetic drug, which is known as "K2" and marketed as incense.

The boys told deputies the man and woman allowed them to smoke K2 in front of them, according to a sheriff's report. The woman admitted to her part and also implicated the man.

The lady then also told deputies she knew it was illegal for children to use K2, but could not explain why she allowed it.

The man denied the allegations, though he told deputies he smokes K2 himself. The couple were being held in the Pinellas County jail in lieu of $20,000 bail each.

This story brings up an interesting question. Clearly marijuana use is illegal. K2 use is legal (with restrictions) for adults. Is K2 to be treated like cigarettes or should no age restriction be applied?

Have you or a loved one been arrested for a possession of marijuana or a child abuse? Then contact the St. Petersburg criminal defense attorneys of Blake & Dorsten, P.A. for a free consultation!

For more information, or to speak directly with experienced St. Petersburg criminal defense lawyers please contact BLAKE & DORSTEN, P.A. at 727.286.6141 or email the lawyers your questions at: info@blakedorstenlaw.com. We are located at 4707 140th Ave N, Suite 104 in Clearwater, across from the criminal courthouse in the airport business center, minutes from Tampa and St. Petersburg.

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Tampa Bay Criminal Defense Lawyer - prescription drug abuse-unintended consequences

By Nicholas Dorsten, Esq.

We have talked about prescription drug abuse in the past (see here and here for instance,this St. Pete Times website article discusses some of the unintended consequences of this problem...

PINELLAS COUNTY: The stories are startling, heartbreaking, infuriating.

A 3-year-old imitating how her parents used needles to shoot oxycodone into their veins.

A 31-year-old mother, who gave birth to a baby with an anti-anxiety drug in her system, unable to stay awake while investigators asked her about her daughter's multiple facial cuts.

A small child wandering the streets while her mother lay in a prescription drug-induced stupor.

Stories like these aren't hard to find. Child abuse investigators say cases of child abuse and neglect involving prescription drugs have skyrocketed over the past two years in Pinellas and Pasco counties.

The agencies' statistics don't specify which illegal drugs are being misused in child welfare cases, but the "vast majority" involve prescription drugs, said officials with both sheriff's offices.

The Pinellas County Sheriff's Office child protection investigation division saw child welfare court cases involving drugs rise from 30 percent in 2008 to 57 percent in 2010.

"This prescription drug thing has just exploded over the last 18 months or so," said a Pinellas County sheriff's Capt, who led the child protection division until he transferred to internal affairs in December. "It's almost doubled, which is really significant and puts an increased workload on our investigators."

In Pasco County, the news is even worse. Between 2008 and 2010, cases of child neglect or abuse where investigators determined drugs were being misused rose 108 percent, said a spokesman for the Pasco County Sheriff's Office.

In 2008, the Pasco Sheriff's Office closed 318 investigations with "verified findings" of substance misuse in child welfare cases. In 2010, that number grew to 663, and that did not include the month of December, for which statistics were not yet available.

Across the board, child welfare specialists say they are seeing fewer cases involving illegal drugs, but more involving abuse of legal prescription drugs like oxycodone, a narcotic pain reliever, and Xanax, an anti-anxiety drug.

"That's what we're hearing, anecdotally — that there's been a shift," said a regional substance abuse and mental health program administrator for the state Department of Children and Families.

Officials say they're seeing a lot of cases involving people who were good caregivers until they became addicted to prescription drugs. Many have no criminal history or previous allegations of abuse. Some are people who were legally prescribed the drugs but later became addicted. Prescription drug abuse is affecting all levels of the community, child welfare officials said.

"It really could be anybody," said a program administrator for the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office child protection investigations division. "We're seeing younger people, first-time moms … parents who may not have had any prior contact with us."

A former Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Judge, who retired from Unified Family Court in December after nine years there, said she saw it in her courtroom.

"It affects people who wouldn't normally be in dependency court," she said. "These are not people who typically would abuse their children."

She started noticing the trend about three years ago. Prior to that, it was unusual for the drug of choice to be a prescription drug, she said. It used to be cocaine and heroin.

Drugs like oxycodone and Xanax can create a mental fog, causing "zombie parents" who are unable to provide basic care for their children, said a DCF regional spokesman.

"The issue here is the substances we are dealing with now tend to leave you so out of it. We've seen parents who are sleeping 22 hours a day," the spokesman said.

Another spokesman, from the Pinellas Sheriff's Office, referenced a case last fall in which a toddler wandered near a busy road while the mother was passed out.

"That's a common report we get over and over," he said.

• • •

There have also been cases in Florida of parents so zoned out on prescription drugs that they rolled on top of their babies while sleeping, killing them, or crashed their cars, injuring their children. Toddlers have been hurt in the home because of a lack of supervision, officials said.

High unemployment rates and the notion that prescription drugs are safe and legal may also account for some of the increase in cases.

"It's a sign of the times," she said. "With the economic difficulties, it's drawing more and more people … looking for that escape, and they're finding it in their medicine cabinet."

And that presents challenges for child welfare specialists, from investigators to treatment specialists to the judicial system.

People overusing the drugs may have a legitimate prescription. Investigators must then try to determine if the person is using the drugs at levels that are not considered therapeutic — they may even count pills to see how many have been taken over a period of time.

"They could be abusing it or selling it, and either one could put a child at risk," he said. "Ten years ago we never thought we would be in the business of counting pills."

In the Tampa Bay area, there have been several notable cases of abuse or neglect linked to prescription drug use or abuse. A Spring Hill grandmother allegedly took her 5-year-old grandson with her as she sold OxyContin. A 1-year-old girl in Pinellas Park was hospitalized with oxycodone in her system.

In one of the worst cases, a man living in Spring Hill was charged with murder after his teenage son overdosed in June 2008. Witnesses reported the father gave prescription drugs to the 15-year-old to "teach him how to party right." The man died in hospice care of an undisclosed illness before the case went to trial.

Officials say more concrete data on abuse and neglect cases involving prescription drugs could be helpful in assessing the problem and determining the best treatment options.

But they don't need statistical studies to show them it's a burgeoning problem.

"We've got mothers that don't get out of bed three or four days at a time and the fourth- or fifth-grader is dressing themselves in the morning," a spokeswoman said. "I don't see an end in sight. That's the alarming part."

Have you or a loved one been arrested on drug trafficking or drug charges? Then the Pinellas, Florida based Blake & Dorsten, P.A. Pinellas criminal defense lawyers are at your service.

For more information, or to speak directly with experienced Pinellas criminal defense attorneys, please contact the law firm of BLAKE AND DORSTEN, P.A. at 727.286.6141 or email the defense lawyers at: info@blakedorstenlaw.com

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Tampa Bay Criminal Defense Lawyer - From tanning to tasered...

By Nick Dorsten, Esq.

From the St. Pete Times website, a woman goes tanning and ends up in jail on child abuse charges...

ST. PETERSBURG, FL — A trip to the tanning salon on Thursday led to a 19-year-old woman being Tasered and charged with child abuse.

The accused,19, had an appointment at a tanning salon at 5907 Fourth St. N about 1:30 p.m., St. Petersburg police said. She brought along a 7-month-old girl whom she was caring for, police said, but the salon said she could not take the child with her to the tanning booth. The infant's identity is being withheld by the St. Petersburg Times.

The teen took the girl back to her vehicle, police said, and left her inside, alone. Police said the vehicle was left unlocked and running. Witnesses called police.

Two officers said the infant, who was later given to a relative, wasn't strapped into her car seat and had spit up on herself, but was otherwise okay.

The officers found the lady inside the salon, getting a tan. She said her boyfriend was supposed to be in the car watching the infant, police said.

They told her she was under arrest but she refused to place her hands behind her back. She also slapped at the officers' arms (battery of a law enforcement officer), police said, and kept pushing them away.

That's when the officers used a Taser, police said.

The "lady" was arrested on charges of felony child abuse, felony battery on a law enforcement officer and a misdemeanor count of resisting an officer without violence. She was released Friday from the Pinellas County jail after posting $10,150 bail.

Have you or someone you love been arrested for child abuse or battery? Then call the St. Petersburg criminal defense attorneys today for a free consultation!

For more information, or to speak directly with experienced criminal defense lawyers please contact BLAKE & DORSTEN, P.A. at 727.286.6141 or email the lawyers your questions at: info@blakedorstenlaw.com. We are located at 4707 140th Ave N, Suite 104 in Clearwater, across from the criminal courthouse in the airport business center, minutes from Tampa and St. Petersburg.

Monday, February 21, 2011

Tampa Bay Criminal Defense Lawyer - drug bust

By Nicholas Dorsten, Esq.

Another day, another drug bust in Pinellas County (see here , this one involving a mother (courtesy of the St. Pete Times website)

LARGO — A woman who brought a child to a drug deal and two others who claimed they had been robbed during the transaction were arrested this week, authorities said.

The mother, 22, of Seminole, was arrested Monday and charged with child abuse and violation of probation on charges of grand theft and possession of a controlled substance.

Another woman, 47, and a man, 45, both of St. Petersburg, Florida were each charged Tuesday with filing a false police report.

Largo police said the mother — along with her boyfriend and another person, who were not identified by name — went to Largo Mall on Jan. 20 to buy oxycodone from a man and woman from St. Petersburg. The mother also had the child with her, reports show. Police did not disclose if the child was related to her.

According to the reports, her boyfriend took 190 pills from the two other people, but did not pay for them.

The man, who also goes by the last name Cameron, and woman hatched a plan to report they had been robbed, Largo police said. The two conspired at a friend's house for about an hour and a half after the incident to determine how to falsify a police report to obtain and replace their prescription pills, the reports state. Largo detectives became suspicious when they learned the two had waited to report the robbery. "When they went back and interviewed the two victims, their stories had changed slightly," said a Largo police spokesman.

When detectives interviewed the mother, she "partially admitted to what happened," the spokesman said. "During that whole followup, the detectives found out that no robbery occurred." The mother was being held without bail in the Pinellas County jail on the probation violation charges.

Have you or a loved one been arrested for a marijuana charge or drug trafficking? Then contact the St. Petersburg criminal defense attorneys of Blake & Dorsten, P.A. for a free consultation!

For more information, or to speak directly with experienced St. Petersburg criminal defense lawyers please contact BLAKE & DORSTEN, P.A. at 727.286.6141 or email the lawyers your questions at: info@blakedorstenlaw.com. We are located at 4707 140th Ave N, Suite 104 in Clearwater, across from the criminal courthouse in the airport business center, minutes from Tampa and St. Petersburg.

Monday, December 13, 2010

Tampa Bay Criminal Defense Lawyer - another DUI

By Nicholas Dorsten, Esq.

Another day, another St. Petersburg DUI to report. While these types of stories aren't new (See here and here for instance, when is enough enough? Courtesy of Tampa Bay online

ST. PETERSBURG, FL - A 22-year-old woman was driving drunk when she set in motion a three-car automobile crash that left an 81-year-old motorist with a broken neck and back, authorities said.

The drunk driver also had her 2-year-old daughter with her in the 2003 Mercury Marquis.

The defendant was charged with drunken driving-serious bodily injury, child abuse, driving with a suspended or revoked license in a wreck causing injury, and refusing to submit to a breath test. She was being held today at the Pinellas County Jail on $15,150 bail.

It's the fourth time the St. Petersburg, Florida woman has faced DUI charges, authorities said.

In Thursday's wreck, she also was cited with careless driving and for not wearing a seatbelt, said St. Petersburg police spokesman Mike Puetz.

The defendant was driving west on 22nd Avenue about 3:20 p.m. when her car struck a curb before hitting a Nissan that was stopped at 42nd Street and then striking a Honda on 22nd Avenue, Puetz said.

The Honda's driver, Hyacinth Capehart of St. Petersburg, suffered a broken neck and back.

Two people in the Nissan were treated at Bayfront Medical Center and released, Puetz said.

Neither the defendant nor her daughter was injured. The child was released to her grandmother.

Authorities found a half bottle of Skol vodka and two empty Budweiser beer bottles in her car, Puetz said.

According to court records, the defendant was charged with drunken driving in June 2006. Puetz said the charge was reduced to reckless driving before she pleaded no contest and was found guilty.

Puetz said the defendant was found guilty of drunken driving in a November 2006 wreck and also in a January 2007 case.

The three cases were bundled together and in April 2008 she was ordered into an alcohol treatment center for 30 days. She was also sentenced to a work release program and her license was revoked for five years, according to state records


Have you or someone you loved been charged with a DUI? Do you need the help of a St. Petersburg Criminal Defense lawyer or Clearwater DUI attorney? Then Call Blake & Dorsten, P.A. today!

For more information, or to speak directly with experienced criminal defense attorneys, please contact the law firm of BLAKE & DORSTEN, P.A. at 727.286.6141 or email your questions to: info@blakedorstenlaw.com