Nebraska Victims

Nebraska Victims

Father arrested for drugs, child abuse=regularly beat son to toughen him up.
by Frank Graham (North Platte Bulletin) - 4/3/2008

A 31-year-old North Platte man was arrested recently for possession of methamphetamine and felony child abuse for hitting his 9-year-old son.

Brian Keith, 2300 E. Philip, Lot 12, was arrested March 26 after the police served a search warrant on his trailer. Officers found meth, an assortment of pipes, marijuana and scales, 12 blister packs of Ephedrine (288 tablets total), and numerous bags and spoons containing residue.
Keith lives in the trailer with his wife, Sallie, and their three sons who are 9, 3, and 2-years-old. A roommate, Steven Hoven, also lives in the home, according to the warrant.
The police began the investigation after receiving a complaint from the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services. According to an affidavit, Keith regularly told Hoven to beat up his 9-year-old son to “toughen up” the boy. Both men regularly punched the boy any time he walked by, according to the affidavit, and found it humorous.
Keith had also become upset with his boys after they had accidentally dumped Keith’s marijuana out of the baggie and all over the floor.
In an interview with investigators, the 9-year-old boy said that he saw his father “transferring weed from one bag to another within the home,” the affidavit said. “He also stated his father takes flavored paper and wraps it around the weed to smoke.”
The boy told an HHS social worker that he would baby sit his younger brothers while his dad and Hoven smoked the weed in the living room or in Hoven’s room, the affidavit said.
The complaint filed with the HHS said the children often wore the same outfits for several days and were unsupervised some of the time.
Keith was arrested and all three children were removed from the home and placed in the custody of HHS.
Keith could face a maximum 10-years imprisonment if convicted of both crimes. His preliminary hearing was scheduled for April 3 but was continued until April 17, according to court records.
Sallie Keith, 28, was cited and released for possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia.

February 9th, 2008

Jeremy Hammel Beats Girlfriend’s Three-Month-Old

In Omaha, Nebraska, Jeremy J. Hammel, 20, was arrested for felony child abuse for harming his girlfriend’s infant son, Joshua Franklin.

The mom of the three-month-old took Joshua to the emergency room when she noticing that he had not been eating well. Doctors found the boy had seven cracked ribs and a broken leg. The injuries appear to be from one to three weeks old.

Doctors called police to report the abuse. They soon realized that Hammel, the boyfriend of the child’s mother, was the abuser. The mom is not accused of any wrongdoing.

If found guilty, he faces up to 20 years in prison.

LINCOLN, Neb. -- Two 13-year-old boys are accused of videotaping themselves sexually assaulting two 5-year-olds and a 3-year-old and also taping sexual contact between three young children, according to Lincoln police.

The alleged felony occurred at one of the boys' homes, about a block away from an elementary school, Omaha TV station KETV reported.

Court records show that the tape includes the voice believed to be one of the 13-year-old boys. He talks about making a "sex video."

The victims, police said, are two 5-year-old girls and a 3-year-old boy.

"The videotape obviously contains one incident of sexual contact between the boys and the victims in the case," said Lincoln police spokeswoman Kerri Crosby.

According to court records, the brother of one of the 13-year-old boys found the video. The video, police said, shows one of the 13-year-olds using a device on one of the girls while the other teen was operating the camera. When police later reviewed the tape, an investigator said, it appeared the girl was in pain.

"The sexual perpetrations of one of the victims was a violent act," Crosby said.

The reports show that the video also shows one 5-year-old girl lying on a bed on top of the other 5-year-old. The 3-year-old boy is also on the bed, exposed from the waist down, police reports show.

Court records show that several adult family members also reviewed the tape. When first contacted by police, the grandmother of one 13-year-old boys said the family had not decided if they wanted to involve law enforcement. According to the report, she said she "just wanted to get her grandson help for what he did."

"When the videotape was discovered, there was some concern about what to do with it," Crosby said.

A psychologist from the Child Guidance Center in Lincoln said that about 20 percent of children at the center have had inappropriate sexual behavior. The experts attributed it to a number of sources, including more awareness and reporting of th e problem, pornography on the Internet and children who abuse that are themselves victims of sexual abuse.

"They lose the capacity to recognize appropriate behaviors," said the center's Nancy Mize.

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Resi in Peace

Christian

Blair Will Get New Trial
(Posted 01/20/2007. Written by Chris Goforth. )

A woman whose 22-month-old son died after she left him in a unairconditioned bedroom for two days will get a new trial. The state Supreme Court overturned 23-year-old Brandy Blair's conviction, saying the judge should have told the jury that one option was to find Blair guilty of a lesser charge of negligent child abuse. Instead, only options relating to intentional child abuse were presented. Blair currently is serving 30-40 years after being found guilty of intentional child abuse resulting in death. Christian Reifler died of electrocution in June 2004 after prosecutors say he took a staple and put it in an electrical socket.

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