Spy Cam

The FBI is now involved in case involving a high school student in Pennsylvania. Apparently a school official spied on the student at home through is school issued laptop. The official caught the student engaging in inappropriate behavior and punished him when he returned to class. The parents of the student flied a lawsuit against the school district and now the case is being reviewed by FBI officials. I think that monitoring a student through myspace or facebook is a violation of privacy, but it is in part the students fault for supplying the evidence. This case is absolutely ridiculous because the student had no idea that he was being watched and this is a complete violation of his privacy. On Friday a school superintendent issued this statement,"At no time did any high school administrator have the ability or actually access the security-tracking software," he said. "We believe that the administrator at Harriton has been unfairly portrayed and unjustly attacked in connection with her attempts to be supportive of a student and his family. The district never did and never would use such tactics as a basis for disciplinary action." The school is now trying to defend their effort in trying to protect the student and his family by monitoring his actions. Again, this case makes me laugh.

Doodling

A twelve year old girl was arrested in New York for doodling on her desk,"I love my friends Abby and Faith. Lex was here 2/1/10 :)". I can remember being extremely bored in middle school and scrawling pictures on my desk, but I was never arrested. The girl was put in handcuffs and taken to the police department, in front of her entire class. I understand that police are trying to crack down on crime, but this this extreme. At the most she should have been given detention and perhaps have her parents informed of the situation. The no tolerance rule has been taken to the extreme and needs to be evaluated. I can imagine how embarrassing it was for this scared little girl to be taken away in handcuffs in front of her entire class. The police has bigger issues than a child drawing on their school desk to worry about. The state of New York has one on the highest crime rates. The are much bigger issues to be dealt with. This entire news story has me laughing.

Facebook Murder/Suicide

Stephen Garcia, a 25 year man killed his one year old son and then committed suicide in the San Bernardino Mountains. After numerous restraining orders were filed and ignored by his ex-girlfriend, Katie Tangle, Garcia decided he didn’t want to live without her. The courts dismissed the requests from Tangle and stated that Garcia was not a threat to her or her son. Boy were they wrong. Garcia posted comments leading up to the suicide/murder days before it took place. Then he posted a final goodbye comment that stated “There now were both sleeping with you ”. Tangle’s mother believes this tragedy could have been prevented and I completely agree. The court system ignored many requests from Tangle when she expressed the concern for her son’s safety. There were many signs that lead up to this awful event and the correct procedures were not followed. Whenever there is a concern for a child’s safety, it is the responsibility of the criminal justice system to protect those who cannot protect themselves. I can’t imagine the pain this family is going through and I pray that God gives them strength during this painful time. There are too many random crimes being committed to children by strangers and there is no excuse to ignore the one’s that we have right in front of our faces. This little baby had his whole life ripped away from him by his own father and the system needs to take responsibility for their actions.

I have been following the case of the Tempe, AZ baby that has been missing since December 2009.Eight month old baby Gabriel was last seen in El Paso, Texas with his mother, 23 year old Elizabeth Johnson. Johnson was arrested in Florida after the baby was reported missing by the father, Logan McQueary. Elizabeth Johnson had been planning on giving the baby up for adoption and had a couple in Arizona was willing to take the baby. After the child’s father refused to give up his parental rights, Johnson took matters into her own hands. Elizabeth claims that she gave her baby to a couple in a San Antonio park and hasn’t seen him since. Yet, she called the father and told him that she had killed the baby and deposed the body in the trash. Johnson is currently being detained in a Maricopa County Jail. The Arizona couple that was trying to adopt the baby is also being investigated in this in the case. This is truly a frustrating time for the father who is desperately trying to locate his son. He is retracing the tracks that Johnson took to Texas in order to uncover any clues to the where abouts of Gabriel. This was a selfish act that Johnson committed to keep her son away from his father. It shows her true disregard and lack of concern for her son’s safety. At this point, police believe that the baby may be alive and well. I hope that when and if baby Gabriel is found he is safely returned to his father and can live a normal happy childhood. As for Johnson, she should get the maximum sentence and needs extreme therapy.