This is not the first time I have heard of this happening.  I remember a story about a young boy that this happened to about 10 years ago.  Terrible!!  Parents, watch your kids when they are in the pool!!
Grandmother Of Brandon

Girl Seriously Injured in Swimming Pool Mishap as Drain Pump Sucks Out Her Intestines

Thursday, July 05, 2007
Associated Press

MINNEAPOLIS —  A six-year-old girl has been hospitalized after a horrifying accident at a swimming pool, when she sat on an open drain and a powerful suction pump tore out part of her intestinal tract. A surgeon told the family Wednesday that part of her intestines had been lost.

Abigail Taylor was severely injured Tuesday when she sat over an open drain hole in a wading pool at the Minneapolis Golf Club, according to a posting by her family on the Caring Bridge Web site.

The posting, which has since been taken down, said it is a "medical miracle" that Taylor is still alive.

Taylor is listed in serious condition at Children's Hospital in Minneapolis. Bob Bennett, an attorney representing the family, told the St. Paul Pioneer Press she was conscious and able to speak late Tuesday but that she faces a series of surgeries with uncertain results.

Bennett alleged that the swimming pool's drain hole was improperly uncovered. An official at the golf club expressed sympathy for the family and said he didn't think anything was wrong with the pool, but referred questions to the club's attorney, who declined to comment.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,288182,00.html

Man Goes to Hospital 3 Times in 3 Days, Then to Jail

Thursday, July 05, 2007
Associated Press

ATHENS, Tenn.  —  After being struck by a car Sunday and beaten by an intruder Monday, Tony Hicks returned to a hospital a third consecutive day when police investigating a convenience store robbery shot him.

The unrelated sequence of hospitalizations was not the first time police have dealt with Hicks, whose criminal record includes a shootout with police, Detective Bill Matthews said.

A police statement said Hicks was shot after making "aggressive movements" toward officers who wanted to question him about the Tuesday night robbery near his apartment.

• Click here to visit FOXNews.com's Crime Center.

He was treated and released after the shooting and was in jail Thursday after a judge ordered Hicks, 42, be held on a $100,000 bond, pending a July 13 hearing on charges of aggravated robbery and attempted first-degree murder.

The Daily Post-Athenian reported the series of events: On Sunday, Hicks was struck outside his apartment by a car driven by a woman who had been revving the engine. The driver was charged with aggravated assault. Police said Hicks went on his own to a hospital.


On Monday, Hicks' apartment was broken into by a knife-wielding burglar. He was robbed after being struck in the face with a coffee mug, a police report said. Hicks was taken to hospital for treatment.

On Tuesday night, a convenience store clerk said she saw a man enter the store with a white bandanna covering his face and what appeared to be a gun under his shirt. She said the man struck her and told her to open the register and give him the money, then fled on foot. Investigators said they recovered the cash.

Police records show officers tried to question Hicks in a lot behind his apartment when he told them he had a gun and threatened to shoot. He began a countdown, and officers shot him in the lower torso. Police said Hicks did not have a gun but had a knife.

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is investigating the shooting.

Visit FOXNews.com's Crime Center for complete coverage.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,288293,00.html

Sisters 10, 12 Arrested for Abducting 1-Year-Old Neighbor for Ransom

Friday, July 06, 2007
Associated Press

ENID, Okla. —  Detectives arrested a 12-year-old girl and her 10-year-old sister on a kidnapping complaint on Thursday after they allegedly abducted their neighbor's 1-year-old son and held him for $200,000 ransom.

Brandon Wells was safe back at home Thursday night, hours after intruders broke into his family's residence and took him while his mother, Sheila Wells, slept, police said.

"He's had a long day," Sheila Wells said.

The pre-teen siblings, who because of their ages weren't identified, are accused of sneaking into Wells' home about 5:30 a.m., taking Brandon and other items and leaving a note.

"... if you want to see your son again then you won't call police and report him missing and you will leave $200,000 on the sofa tonight and we will return your son back safe," police said the note read. The note was signed, "the kidnappers."

Besides the note, the abductors allegedly took $20, diapers, a stroller and other baby supplies from the home.

The plan began to unravel when the girls' mother saw them with the child, whom she recognized as her neighbor's toddler, police said. They told their mother they had found the boy on the corner, according to police.

While the girls' mother tried to find Sheila Wells' telephone number, her 12-year-old daughter returned to Wells' residence and told the woman it was the younger sister who was responsible for the abduction, Capt. Dean Grassino said.

Wells immediately retrieved her child from the girls' home and police were called about 6:13 a.m.

"I've been doing this 18 1/2 years, and this is the first time I know of when a 10- and a 12-year-old kidnapped a 1-year-old," Grassino said. "It definitely ranks up there with the unusual crimes."

Wells said she knew the girls, and the younger one had spent some time at her home.

"She told me she wanted to be his new mommy," Wells told the Enid News and Eagle. "When I walked in the door, she was trying to make excuses to her mom."

Wells said she had banned the 10-year-old girl from her home a few weeks ago, but didn't say why.

The girls appeared in Garfield County District Court Thursday afternoon and were taken to Community Intervention Center for juveniles. They haven't been formally charged.

"I know they're so young, but they need to learn from their mistakes," Wells said.

Daniel Wells, the boy's father, said his son seems to have made it through the ordeal unscathed and is acting as if nothing happened.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,288375,00.html
 

Toddler smack-talks Will Ferrell in viral video

Controversial online clip shows little girl cussing, clutching a beer

 NBC News video

  Does the Ferrell video go too far?

June 7: This popular online clip shows a 2-year-old cussing and holding a beer bottle. NBC's Maria Menounos reports.
Today show

By Rina Raphael
TODAYShow.com contributor
TODAY
Updated: 6:05 p.m. CT June 6, 2007
We've seen Hollywood heavyweight Will Ferrell battle egotistical male supermodels, Santa skeptics and malicious skating couples, but a two-year-old girl?

In the popular viral clip "The Landlord," the comedian is featured pleading over the rent with his cranky and foulmouthed "landlord," played by the young Pearl McKay, daughter of film producer and former "Saturday Night Live" producer Adam McKay and actress Shira Piven (sister of "Entourage" star Jeremy Piven).

The heavily-downloaded, two and a half-minute video — posted on Funnyordie.com, a comedy website founded by Will Ferrell and Adam McKay — shows the young McKay clutching a beer bottle and screaming obscenities; furiously demanding her money and claiming she needs to "get her drink on."

The child's parents have been criticized for having introduced the toddler to cussing and alcohol, a move which some parents found about as funny and entertaining as "Bewitched." But is the clip actually inappropriate and offensive or are they over-reacting?

Watch the video.
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/19078413/

But Adam McKay, director of  "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy" and "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby," isn't too worried about corrupting his daughter for the sake of comedy.

"Fortunately she is in this great stage now where she repeats anything you say to her and then forgets it right away, which is key," said McKay in an interview with People.com. "She has not said the B-word since we shot the thing."

Shots of Shira Piven teaching the pint-size actress to mimic her cussing can be viewed during "The Landlord Out-Takes:"

Man jailed for allegedly biting off child’s ear, lip
Mother, boyfriend plead not guilty on separate charges relating to injuries


Bryan James, 34, and Jessica Silveira, 26, of New Bedford, Mass. are arraigned and ordered held without bail in New Bedford District Court Thursday in connection with alleged human bite attacks that left Silveira's 3-year-old daughter so mutilated doctors could not fully repair the damage.

Associated Press
Updated: 8:01 p.m. CT July 5, 2007

NEW BEDFORD, Mass. - A man accused of biting off the lip and ear of his girlfriend’s 3-year-old daughter pleaded not guilty Thursday and was ordered held without bail.

Bryan James, 34, was charged with assault and battery upon a child causing substantial bodily injuries. Police said the attack left the girl so mutilated doctors could not fully repair the damage.

The child’s mother, Jessica Silveria, 26, pleaded not guilty to permitting substantial injuries to a child under 14 and intimidation of a witness. She was also ordered held without bail.

The girl lost the upper part of her lip and her ear was so mutilated that surgery could not return it to its natural state. The child also suffered other human bites on her body, New Bedford police Capt. Richard Spirlet said.

“She’s small, brown hair, brown eyes — great smile,” the child’s father, Eric Offley, said outside the courthouse. “You know, now that’s taken away from her.”

Police believe the biting attacks began in January and continued until April. New Bedford police began investigating in mid-May after the girl was taken to Children’s Hospital in Boston. The girl and her older brother have been taken into state custody.

The state Department of Social Services said it began investigating abuse allegations on Jan. 5, and repeatedly tried to contact and locate the girl’s family.

When the agency managed to contact the mother in March on one of several unannounced visits, her daughter was not in the home, and she also wasn’t there during subsequent visits, DSS said in a statement.

In April, the agency asked a judge for an order to gain temporary custody of the girl and her older brother. A judge put the children in state care on May 3, DSS said.

Prosecutors plan to ask at a hearing next week that James and Silveria be held without bail for up to 90 days, said Gregg Miliote, a spokesman for Bristol County District Attorney Sam Sutter’s office.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19617935/

Posted on: July 06, 2007, 10:08:02 AM

---

Couple Held Without Bail In Child Abuse Case

WJAR-TV—Providence, RI

NEW BEDFORD, Mass. -- The New Bedford man accused of bite attacks that disfigured his girlfriend's 3-year-old daughter has been ordered held without bail.

Bryan James, 34, pleaded not guilty at his arraignment Thursday morning in New Bedford District Court.

The child's mother, Jessica Silveira, 26, was also ordered held without bail.

Both James and Silveira face a dangerousness hearing next Wednesday.

Investigators say the child suffered human bites to the face and lost part of her lip. Her ear was also severely mutilated.

James is charged with assault and battery on a child causing substantial bodily injuries. Silveira is charged with allowing injuries to a child under 14 and intimidation of a witness.

The girl's father, Eric Offley, said word of the abuse sickened him.

"I couldn't believe it. I looked at her picture and cried about five hours. She'll never look like that again," Offley told NBC 10.

Doctors at Children's Hospital in Boston called it one of the most horrific child abuse cases they have ever seen. The girl and Silveira's older son were taken into the custody of the state Department of Social Services.

A spokesman for Bristol County District Attorney Sam Sutter said the DA plans to personally prosecute the case.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19617495/

M.E.: Cocaine alone could have killed Tasered woman


By AP Wire Services
7/6/2007

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- A woman who died after Oklahoma City police officers shocked her twice with a Taser stun gun while she was handcuffed had enough cocaine in her system that the drug could have been listed as the cause of death, the chief examiner for the state Medical Examiner's Office said.

But a lawyer for the family of Milisha Thompson called the findings "pure speculation" and said plans are progressing to exhume her body soon for another autopsy.

Lawyer Mike Gassaway said that if the city doesn't respond to a $1.5 million tort claim filed May 23, a lawsuit is likely.

The Medical Examiner's Office said June 22 that Thompson, 35, died of "excited delirium," in which a person's heart becomes overtaxed from the effects of drugs combined with a high level of stress. Her death was ruled accidental.

Kevin Rowland, the office's chief examiner, said Thompson had so much cocaine in her system that "had she just been found dead, we would have listed cocaine toxicity as the cause of death."

Two police officers were investigating a report of drug activity May 19 near the City Rescue Mission when they encountered Thompson. She
ran up to them twice and was being disruptive, so they put her in handcuffs, police said. Thompson continued to be combative, so officers used the Taser, Police Chief Bill Citty has said. She soon stopped breathing.

Gassaway maintains that the shock from the 50,000-volt Taser, combined with Thompson's being handcuffed behind her back, could have caused the tearing of muscle tissue in her biceps. That tearing, he said, could have released potassium into her blood, leading to a condition known as hyperkalemia that caused her heart to stop.

Gassaway said that because Thompson was a "recovering cocaine addict," it's understandable that the drug was found in her body because an autopsy can detect traces of drug for six months.

But Rowland said Thompson's cocaine levels indicated that she likely used the drug the day she died.

Mayor Herenton Goes Off On 'White Media'

That was one of the most racist, most bigoted, most divisive of race statements I have ever seen anyone make!!  And he calls white people racists!!  And compares the media to KKK!  Amazing.  A white politician would be strung up and hung out to dry for one of those kinds of statements.  Their career would be over.

Like Cathy, but she will never admit to doing wrong and will never apologize.  She will still be saying she is innocent to Satan himself.

Thanks Pamee.

In the letter, Cartwright says: "I JUST WANT PEOPLE TO KNOW, WHETHER YOU HAT ME OR NOT, WHETHER YOU BELIEVE ME TO BE GUILTY OR NOT, THE DEATH
PENALTY HURTS INNOCENT PEOPLE. THE DEATH PENALTY IS MAKING A VICTIM OUT OF MY 8 YEAR OLD DAUGHTER IN THE NAME OF VICTIM'S RIGHTS!!!!!!!

How f*cking crazy and insane it that? Can anyone tell me the above statement is not true? Does innocence or guilt even play a part in the statement? It should not. This is about human life! Innocent human life!"

Yes, the death penalty does hurt the innocent too, as in the victim's family having to wait so long for justice to be done. 

But the murderer is the one to blame for his own family's pain in the execution, not the state!  Had he not participated in and murdered a man, his family would not have been put into the situation of watching someone they love sit on death row and WHINE about his fate.

Cartwright is/was a Skinhead who decided to rob and murder another human being, with his cronies.  They decided to bring an end to someone else's life because they did not like his lifestyle.  Cartwright and his buds were too damn lazy and too coked up on drugs to go out and work for a living. So  with his buds, he preyed on those who did work and who did have productive lives.  He murdered a productive member of society to gain that person's possessions in a criminal act.  That is the innocent life that was taken in this crime.  Cartwright was not innocent!  He more than deserved the death penalty for his crime!  Too bad he did not like the outcome of his criminal activity.

There is a saying.  IF YOU CAN'T DO THE TIME, DON'T DO THE CRIME.

Grandmother of Brandon

Cartwright's crime story below.
________________________________________________

Corpus Christi Caller-Times

"Execution is set for bayfront slaying; Trio ensnared man in robbery, death," by Neal Falgoust. (May 15, 2005)

Nine years have passed since Angela Moraida learned of her brother's death at the hands of two men who slashed his throat and shot him in the back. Though the years have passed, the agony she felt then still comes to life with each letter telling her that the killers have made a new plea for mercy. She hopes that agony - or some part of it - ends this week.

Richard Cartwright, 31, faces execution Thursday for the August 1996 killing of 37-year-old Nick Moraida. Cartwright and two other men lured Moraida to a remote landing on the bayfront, where they robbed him and used his money to buy drugs. Cartwright delivered the fatal shot after another man slashed Moraida's throat. Cartwright was the only one of the three to be sentenced to death.

If his execution and another scheduled for Wednesday both proceed, Cartwright will become the 344th Texas inmate to die by lethal injection. His will be the eighth execution this year - the second this year for a Nueces County case. Troy Kunkle died Jan. 25 for the 1984 abduction and fatal shooting of Corpus Christi resident Steven Wayne Horton. Cartwright has made a final appeal for executive clemency, a move opposed by the Nueces County district attorney's office and Moraida's family.

"Richard Cartwright was sentenced to death . . . and that decision should stand," First Assistant District Attorney Mark Skurka wrote in a letter to the state's Board of Pardons and Paroles. In her protest, Angela Moraida wrote: "Cartwright went through the legal system and the judicial system decided to uphold the decision that he is guilty and should be put to death."

Cartwright declined a request to be interviewed by the Caller-Times, but his mother, Irene Rekitzke, remains hopeful that her son's appeal will be granted. She says he is innocent and has been the victim of a justice system run amok. "He's still fighting very hard to get people to understand that he did not commit this murder," she said. "He just believes the truth will come out."

The main contention for Cartwright and his family is that two co-defendants testified against him after reaching a plea agreement with prosecutors. Rekitzke said there was no physical evidence tying her son to the crime, and now he is going to die on the word of two men who were trying to save their own lives. "There's just so much that fell through the cracks," she said.

Cartwright, Kelly Overstreet and Dannis Hagood met on Aug. 1, 1996, and hatched a plan to seduce and rob a gay man on the bayfront. They thought such a victim would be an easy target because he would not report the crime for fear of being outed. "We were going to stand out there and act like a male prostitute," Hagood told jurors during Cartwright's trial. The men approached Moraida at the downtown barge dock, near what is now the American Bank Center. Hagood said they found Moraida driving north along Shoreline Boulevard. "He winked at me," Hagood said. "We asked him if he wanted to go to a park and drink."

Moraida gave Hagood a ride in his black sports car as Cartwright and Overstreet followed them to Ocean Way, a cul-de-sac off Ocean Drive, where they parked their cars and descended the bluff to a landing hidden from the road above. Cartwright borrowed Overstreet's .38-caliber revolver and held Moraida at gunpoint while the three of them took Moraida's valuables - about $180 in cash, a watch and car keys. Hagood dashed back up the bluff to unlock Moraida's car, while Overstreet stabbed Moraida and slashed his throat. When Overstreet failed to kill Moraida, Cartwright shot him twice.

Dr. Lloyd White, the Nueces County medical examiner at the time, said the bullets fired by Cartwright killed Moraida after striking a lung, his heart and a large blood vessel that carries blood away from the heart. A fisherman and his grandson found Moraida's body the next day.

Overstreet and Hagood, pleaded guilty in return for their testimony against Cartwright. Overstreet, now 27, was sentenced to 50 years in prison on a murder charge for stabbing Moraida. Hagood, now 28, was sentenced to 20 years for robbery. Cartwright also was offered a plea deal that included 40 years in prison, but he turned it down. His defense attorney, Mark Woerner, said Cartwright rejected the deal because he "would prefer death over 40 years" in prison.

Several letters in the case raised questions about Cartwright's guilt. In one, Overstreet seemingly admitted to the slaying, saying that he was high and lost control of himself. "I sometimes do things I don't really mean to do," he wrote from the Nueces County Jail to a woman in Corpus Christi. "I usually do these things when I am high. I have always hated faggets (sic) but I didn't mean to kill the little 'queen.' I was pretty high that night and I guess my rage overcame my ass. I guess that's what being a 'skinhead' is all about."

Woerner introduced the letter as proof of Cartwright's innocence, but prosecutors introduced other letters passed between Cartwright and Hagood in the Nueces County Jail. Those letters indicated that the two men were attempting to conspire on their testimony. Cartwright wrote to Hagood: "My statement was vague and doesn't put the gun in your hand. Your statement don't hurt me because you saw nothing."

Woerner now believes those letters sealed Cartwright's fate. Woerner said he told Cartwright at the time not to talk to the other defendants in the case, but he said Cartwright evidently took that advice to mean that writing them was all right. Woerner said he learned of the letters during jury selection. "I was just flabbergasted," he said. "The statement indicated to the jury pretty strongly that he was involved in the murder. Without the letters, I think he probably would not have been convicted."

Skurka, who tried the case, said he was concerned that the only eyewitness was a participant in the crime and his testimony might have been discounted by the jury because he had reached an agreement with prosecutors. Cartwright's letters helped abate that concern. "I didn't have a priest walking by seeing them kill him," Skurka said. "Even if you didn't believe the co-defendant, the guy in his own handwriting says he was there."

Skurka said it was clear from the beginning that Cartwright was the leader of the pack and had taken the gun from the younger men because he didn't think they would be able to pull the trigger if it came to that. He also said prosecutors did not pursue a hate crimes charge because they already were trying the highest charge possible, capital murder.

Dr. Burk Strong, foreman of the jury that convicted and sentenced Cartwright to death, said he has no doubt of Cartwright's guilt. He said the entire case, not just the testimony of the co-defendants or the letters, pointed to guilt. "The evidence was quite strong," he said. "I think it was a just sentence. It was a stone-cold murder."

Should Cartwright's execution proceed on Thursday, Moraida's family will not be there to see it. Cartwright's mother along with several friends and family members do plan to attend.

Angela Moraida said her family is busy focusing on happier things, like the graduation of Nick's daughter from high school. "I have no desire to see anybody die, especially him," she said. "This guy is just horrible. He's like the devil himself."

[url/]http://www.clarkprosecutor.org/html/death/US/cartwright969.htm[/url]

I love Dean Koontz too.  I have read just about everything he has written.  He is as kooky in his own way as Stephen King is in his.  Love King's work too.

James Patterson, Patricia Cornwell, Robert Ludlum are great writers, as are Terry Goodkind and George R.R. Martin.  For fun, I read Dave Barry and Elmore Leonard's books.

Taylor Caldwell is one of the greatest writers ever. 

All they had to do was put the needle in the jugular vein and it would have gone right through.  I am sure he did not inject himself there.  Why they did not think of it I don't know. 

When my oldest son was injured in a severe accident in 1967 when he 1 1/2 years old, that is where they had to put the IV needle and it was there in place for about 4 days before they found another vein in his leg to move it to.

As to him suffering.  All I can say is not enough!!  His victims and his victim's family suffered more than he ever did for the murders he committed.  His mother should sit down and STFU.

Grandmother of Brandon

Very interesting.  First time I have heard the term hybristophiliacs.  But I had wondered what women like those were called, other than sick sadistic sociopaths.

Very educational.  Thanks

Grandmother of Brandon

Well-known Tampa lawyer has surprise in his bed

 Last Edited: Thursday, 30 Nov 2006, 6:29 PM EST
Created: Thursday, 30 Nov 2006, 6:29 PM EST
Kimberly Moore is accused of stalking Tampa attorney John Fitzgibbons.

TAMPA - He's probably known best for his defense of Debra LaFave. She's the Hillsborough teacher who had sex with a student and John Fitzgibbons argued she was too pretty to go to prison.

Now Fitzgibbons is front and center for something else. A female stalker was found sleeping in his bed.

"Being the victim of a stalker is a terrifying experience, chilling experience," said Fitzgibbons.

The alleged stalker is Kimberly Moore, a woman he met five years ago. Moore did temporary work for him at his law office.

Fitzgibbons says Moore became fixated on him. She sent him packages in the mail and left hundreds of messages on his home phone.

"Just very angry sometimes, other times very happy. You never know what it would be," recalled Fitzgibbons.

When he called his home voicemail while on a trip to Washington this week, Fitzgibbons couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"She had left five messages and the last message was a terrifying message. She says she was at my door, the door was unlocked, she was in the house now, and she wanted to know when I'd be home."

Police found Moore in Fitzgibbons home - in his bed - and arrested her.

http://www.myfoxtampabay.com/myfox/pages/Home/Detail;jsessionid=84F3F707C31F377A797BF7295D039D7E?contentId=1649522&version=1&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=1.1.1&sflg=1

Sex Offender Arrested After Florida Cops Find 15-Year-Old Girl in His Bed

TAMPA —  When a 42-year-old registered sex offender answered the door naked and acting nervous during a surprise check by cops, the officers acted on suspicion and searched his home.

What they found next was a 15-year-old girl in Robert Gomez's bed, according to MyFoxTampaBay.com.

The girl cooperated, telling cops she met Gomez in an online chat room seven months ago, and that a sexual relationship began immediately.

Gomez was arrested and booked on one count of lewd and lascivious battery and a probation violation.

Already a registered a sex offender, Gomez was convicted in June 2002 on a lewd and lascivious assault charge on a victim under the age of 16.

He is being held on $7,500 bond for the second-degree felony.
___________________________________________________________
Sex offender arrested after police find teen in his bed
Last Edited: Monday, 02 Jul 2007, 4:49 PM EDT
Created: Monday, 02 Jul 2007, 12:19 PM EDT

Raymond Gomez

TAMPA - When Officer Felicia Pecora knocked on 42-year-old Raymond Gomez' door Sunday night - conducting a routine patrol check - she immediately became suspicious. Pecora says it was Gomez' look that gave him away.

"When he answered the door, he kind of hid behind it, and his eyes were just big as saucers," Pecora recalled. "He just didn't expect to see us. He looked like when people are naked and you catch them."

In fact, the registered sex offender was naked.  After informing the officers he needed to put on some clothes, Gomez closed the door to get dressed.

When Pecora and another Tampa police officer went inside to question him, their suspicions grew.

"He didn't expect to see two uniformed police officers," Pecora said. "That shock on his face, his shaking, the visible nervousness - my partner and I both knew there was something in there. He didn't want us to find it, and we weren't going to leave until he told us what it was, or we figured out what it was."

Inside Gomez' bedroom was a 15-year-old girl who told police she was 18. Investigators say she knew Gomez was a sex offender, and was trying to protect him.

Under the terms of Gomez' probation he isn't allowed to use the internet, but the victim says she met Gomez online in a Christian chat room.

Both accessed the internet through their cell phones, and police say this case, is a cautionary tale for parents.

"Chat rooms for your teen or child - it's a mall for victims is what it is.  Parents need to monitor that, monitor the phone bills," Pecora warned.

Gomez has been charged with lewd and lascivious act on a victim under 16 as well as for violation of probation.

He was convicted on the same charge back in 2002.  Officers say they regularly conduct surprise checks on sex offenders, because of situations just like this.

"We go overboard with that because we want them to never know when we're going to be there," Pecora said. "You never know when I'm going to pull you over. You never know when I'm going to come to you house, walk up behind you and ask what's going on in your life.  I want them to be afraid."

Police say Gomez may have at least one more underage victim out there, and they're still investigating.

http://www.myfoxtampabay.com/myfox/pages/Home/Detail;jsessionid=C90C9F2810194E004CD35963E132A828?contentId=3657310&version=3&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=1.1.1&sflg=1

Inmates riot; injuries are minor, but jail's damaged

JAMES GIBBARD / Tulsa World

This cell was among several areas in the Pittsburg County Jail that were damaged when dozens of inmates rioted for several hours Tuesday. No serious injuries were reported.

By JACLYN COSGROVE World Staff Writer
6/28/2007

Pittsburg County's undersheriff says the melee is a result of having too many prisoners in the jail.


McALESTER -- Inmates at the Pittsburg County Jail were moved to an undisclosed location Wednesday after about 40 of them rioted for more than eight hours Tuesday. No serious injuries were reported.

Authorities blamed crowded conditions as an aggravating factor in the riot, in which inmates ran loose through the facility and caused extensive damage before being subdued by officers using a type of tear gas, officials said.

Several inmates were hospitalized with minor injuries.

"In my 18-1/2 years, I've never seen anything of this magnitude at this jail," Pittsburg County Undersheriff Richard Sexton said.

The jail's capacity is 65 inmates, but 105 were being housed there Tuesday, officials said.

The riot started when an argument broke out among several inmates between 2 and 3 p.m.

Sexton said the cause of the argument wasn't immediately known.

He said the crowding has resulted in more minor disturbances.

"When you put that many people in a small, confined
area, tempers flair and personalities will conflict," Sexton said.

About seven inmates were being held in cells with four bunks, while 12-man cells had about 18 inmates.

During the fracas, a few inmates were moved to other cells, but one inmate became an instigator, Sexton said. He was moved, but he continued to cause problems in the next cell, Sexton said.

Inmates in that cell then kicked the door until its lock broke.

"At that time, inmates began coming out of that cell and moving about within the runs, the areas between the cells," he said.

Sexton said the inmates were able to gather pieces of metal and boards and use them as weapons.

They began breaking surveillance cameras and knocking locks off doors, releasing other inmates, he said.

"Without our cameras operating, it was hard to determine how many inmates were out of the cells," Sexton said, but he estimated that between 40 and 45 inmates were released.

"Once the riot began to escalate, we contacted the Department of Corrections, McAlester Police Department and other local law enforcement agencies for assistance," he said.

Thirteen DOC employees and local law enforcement officers entered the jail and were able to remove the inmates after using a substance similar to tear gas, Sexton said.

The last inmate was removed from the jail between 11:30 p.m. and midnight.

At one point, some inmates tried to escape but were stopped when Sexton got in his pickup and placed its trailer hitch against the door so the door could not be opened.

Because some inmates had "shanks" -- knives created from items within the jail -- some were harmed during the riot, but none had severe injuries, Sexton said.

No guns were drawn by officers during the riot, but if the inmates had escaped, shots would have been fired, Pittsburg County Sheriff Jerome Amaranto said.

Sexton said officials believed that the jail would be repaired by Wednesday evening. Damage was estimated at $8,000 to $10,000, he said.

Inmates will be allowed back in the jail after it is inspected by the state Fire Marshal's Office, but Sexton said only 65 inmates will be returned.

The Sheriff's Office is working with other county jails to place inmates in other facilities, he said.

A new jail that will house about 200 inmates is set to open in about 18 months.

Most inmates now in the jail are there for drug-related crimes; about 10 percent are violent offenders, Sexton said.

A report on the riot will be sent to the District Attorney's Office, which will determine whether charges will be filed.

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