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A Florida woman was tricked into having an abortion by her boyfriend when he disguised pregnancy-terminating pills as antibiotics. The man now faces murder charges.

Reeme Jo Lee’s pregnancy was confirmed by her boyfriend’s father, who is an obstetrician. Lee was excited to become a mother, but her boyfriend, John Andrew Welden, pleaded with her to terminate the pregnancy.

She maintained her resolve and decided to keep the baby. She was six-weeks pregnant when her boyfriend brought home a pill bottle that he said contained an antibiotic. The label on the bottle supported the boyfriend’s claims and said that it was prescribed by his father.

Allegations of sexual abuse by three young men who attended the Catholic High school, Monsignor Edward Pace, have prompted a law suit in Miami Dade County against the school’s dean, Ken Ward. In addition, one of these alleged crime victims claims that he was also sexually abused at another school he previously attended before Pace High School. Identified only as John Does, one of the young men maintains, that while he attended The Immaculate Conception Catholic School in the 1990’s, the principal of that school, Rev. Gustavo Miyares repeatedly sexually abused him there , as well. In both cases, the Catholic Church covered up the abuse , according to reports.
Three plaintiffs are named in a lawsuit against two separate schools, as well as the Archdiocese of Miami. According to the victims and their families, the Archdiocese of Miami was attempting to protect the church and schools for decades. School authorities,and church clergymen hid horrific allegations of sexual abuse, further causing more pain and suffering for the victims and their families. If the church and the schools had come forward with the information when they learned about it years ago, and subsequently, attempted to stop the abuse, perhaps future victims might have been spared.
Parents who entrust the leadership and religiosity of the Catholic Church to keep their children safe while educating them at school, should never have to find out that their children are at risk or in danger by administrators of the school. Sexually abusing a child is a heinous crime and hiding behind the veil of the Catholic Church makes it that much worse. Sex abuse crime victim attorneys at Gerson & Schwartz, PA have worked with many families whose children were abused by individuals they entrusted at schools or day care centers, throughout the state of Florida, for years. The expertise and professionalism of the attorneys and staff at Gerson & Schwartz, PA brings a sensitivity and understanding to these cases in and out of the courtroom.

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According to the Associated press, and Foxnews.com Robert Wayne Gladden, Jr. is a 15 year old sophomore in Baltimore, Maryland, who entered the Perry Hall Highs school cafeteria on Monday morning and opened fire towards a lunch table. He shot, fellow student, Daniel Borowy in the back and was eventually arrested by the school resource officer after a struggle ensued. Fortunately, nobody else was injured although; one more shot was fired during this horrifying incident.

So, why do school shootings continue to take place? Why on the first day of school is there not greater precautions taken to prevent such violence? Why aren’t our nation’s students being protected? This time, it is high school student Robert Wayne Gladden Jr. who planned this assault and who posted on his Facebook page his plans to do so, even if they were not directly spelled out, his Facebook post was reason for concern. But to no avail, his Facebook nickname “Suicidal Smile” or his references on the social media outlet to Charles Manson, were not taken seriously if noticed at all.

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Another case of internet child pornography takes notice by the South Florida Community, this time surfacing in the Miami Herald news. A US immigration and Customs Enforcement former chief will plead guilty to charges of sending, receiving, and possessing internet pornography on his home computers. Why do public officials who are supposed to be protecting citizens and children believe they are above the law? The internet has become a vast playground for child molesters and predators to view indecent images and to facilitate victimizing children. In this case, Anthony V. Mangione was arrested and will change his plea to guilty in order to receive a lower sentence.

The good news is that Mangione has retired and his 16 cell phones and over a dozen computers were confiscated. Hopefully, the equally horrible individuals with whom he was sharing the illegal images will be caught and will get justice as well. Too often, it is the people who one would least suspect, such as Mangione whose child porn offenses took place during his 27 year career serving as an agent with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Division of South Florida. The most devastating part of this story is, the fact that, part of Mangione’s job was focusing on child pornography and working to eradicate offenders from sharing their child pornography images across the internet with other predators and sex offenders.

Internet child pornography and sexual abuse of children must be stopped. Experienced lawyers and professionals who work with crime victims are at your service to help you stop a predator or report their crimes to the proper authorities. It is the duty of these lawyers and advocates to help protect the rights of children who are being abused or exploited.

MIAMI, FL—FBI agents arrested five people following a Miami Gardens robbery that ended with the death of a 26-year-old Brink’s armored truck guard. According to information provided by the Miami Herald, the robbery and subsequent fatal shooting occurred at the Calder Casino and Race Course on August 21.

Reports indicated 26-year-old Hollywood resident Uri Steven Ammar, as well as 25-year-old Vladimir Louissant, 26-year-old Victoria Barkley, 23-year-old Byron Kyler and 26-year-old Reginald Mitchell, whom all reside in Miami Gardens, face unspecified criminal charges in connection with the fatal Miami-Dade shooting. Officials from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) announced the arrests on Aug. 22.
At approximately 5 p.m. on Aug. 21, one of the named offenders sat on a bench outside the Miami Gardens casino, awaiting the return of a Brink’s armored car courier. When Brink’s employee Alvaro Lopez Ramos did indeed return to the armored truck with a bag of money, gunfire erupted.

While the gunman subsequently fled the scene, Ramos suffered severe gunshot wounds, which eventually proved fatal. Although details concerning the violent armored truck robbery and fatal shootout remained limited, reports noted that several Brink’s armored cars have been robbed over the past few years. The Miami-Dade robbery/murder case is underway.

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MIAMI, FL—An arrest was made following a violent stabbing incident that occurred at a Broward County-based entertainment and retail complex during the early hours of August 21. According to information provided by the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, the 24-year-old stabbing suspect was arrested on charges of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon in connection with the attack, which left a 20-year-old man hospitalized.

Reports suggested 24-year-old Shaliko Sarkisyan stabbed 20-year-old Julian Gomez in the back after an argument spurred a short physical fight between them. It is suspected that a woman might have been an accomplice in the attack, which occurred in a bathroom at Las Olas Riverfront Entertainment Complex in Fort Lauderdale at approximately 3:10 a.m.

The unidentified female, who was said to be about “5-foot-5 and 150 pounds, with brown shoulder-length hair,” is suspected of ditching the knife in a woman’s bathroom before leaving the scene. Sarkisyan, on the hand, was arrested on charges of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon.

The Fort Lauderdale stabbing victim was rushed to Broward General Medical Center following the stabbing incident. He was allegedly deemed stable in the hospital on the night of August 21.

While it remained unclear if any security guards were on duty when the assault occurred, officials from the Fort Lauderdale Police Department are expected to conduct a full investigation into the stabbing case.

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MIAMI, FL—A former Orlando hotel worker who was accused of raping a female hotel guest in the middle of the night was subsequently arrested and is now being detained at an Orange County jail in light of the sexual assault allegations. Upon being interrogated by police detectives in connection with the alleged hotel rape case, the suspect responded, “I’ve got nothing to say, take me to jail,” according to Orlando Police Department arrest reports acquired by the Orlando Sentinel.

Reports indicated 30-year-old Deoitre Gibbs was staying at the Vacation Lodge hotel, located along South Orange Blossom Trail in Orlando, when 37-year-old hotel employee Irving Lee Gifford Jr. allegedly used his master key to slip into her hotel room. Gibbs claims she woke up to a man sexually assaulting her and that hotel surveillance footage could prove that Gifford did indeed enter her room on July 30. Despite her attacker’s verbal threats to her life, she reported the sexual attack to Orlando police.

“He said he was going to kill me, and if I was to say anything, I would be dead,” Gibbs said, maintaining that although she allowed the media to identify her in news coverage concerning the alleged hotel sexual assault case, she did so fully aware that her attacker could attempt to carry out his threats if he were to be released from jail. The alleged rape victim told reporters she wanted to prevent other women from being victimized in the same way. “He’s never going to do this to anyone again,” Gibbs stated.

According to information provided, the alleged rape suspect has a lengthy criminal history, including offenses from burglary to drug possession to aggravated battery against a law-enforcement officer with a deadly weapon. Gifford was booked into the Orange County jail on $5,000 bail and faces charges of sexual battery and burglarizing an occupied dwelling with assault or battery. Investigations into the apparent hotel rape case are ongoing.

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MIAMI, FL—On July 18, 2011, a Deltona toddler became the eighth child under the age of 4 to drown in a Volusia County swimming pool since the beginning of this year. According to information provided by the Daytona Beach News Journal, the recent drowning death has spurred county authorities and other organizations to take additional steps to advocate pool safety.

Reports indicated a young girl managed to sneak past her parents, as well as an older sibling, and fall into her family’s pool sometime before 7:39 p.m. The 21-month-old child’s parents noticed their daughter Rocio Vazquez Naranjo was not present and eventually found her unconscious in the pool.

Upon pulling her out of the pool, which was located in the backyard of the family’s house on 2064 Apricot Drive, family members rushed the unresponsive tot to a nearby home, where an unidentified resident performed CPR on her pending the arrival of emergency medical services (EMS) crews.

Although officials from the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office and personnel from the Deltona Fire Department responded to the Deltona residence and had the child rushed to Orange City-based Florida Hospital Fish Memorial via EVAC Ambulance, her condition proved fatal around 8:30 p.m.

According to the Volusia County Health Department’s public information officer, Stefany Strong, “We all agree enough is enough… We don’t want to lose any more lives.” The Health Department and Florida Hospital Memorial Center are working with the Daytona Beach Fire Department, the Volusia Flagler Family YMCA and Safe Kids USA in an attempt to put an end to child drowning deaths.
Billboards and bus bench messages to be installed this month will encourage parents to keep a close eye on their children to prevent potentially fatal accidents. Florida Hospital Memorial Medical Center’s marketing director Danielle Zili maintained, “We noticed a pattern and decided to be more proactive… It’s purely for the benefit of the kids.”
According to data provided by the Department of Health, drowning is the leading cause of death for kids between the ages of 1 and 4. Furthermore, Florida’s drowning death rate for children in that age group is the highest in the nation.

The Miami injury law firm of Gerson & Schwartz, P.A. urged Florida parents to consider the following pool safety tips to prevent future drowning injuries and deaths:

• TEACH KIDS TO SWIM
• Make sure children comprehend fundamental pool safety rules before they enter the water
• MAKE SURE CHILDREN ARE ALWAYS UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF AN ADULT
• Check the pool area before any other location if a child wanders off
• Install child proof pool fences around home swimming pools
• Make sure to have a phone nearby, in case of emergency
• Cover and lock saunas when they are not in use

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