Safe-injection legal battle brewing in SF — health intervention or drug den?
Original article written September 2nd 2018
If Gov. Jerry Brown goes along, San Francisco plans to establish what could be the nation’s first legal, supervised safe injection site for drug users. But there’s a potentially serious legal obstacle: a 3-decade-old federal law that was directed at shutting down dens of crack cocaine dealers and users.
Legislation on Brown’s desk, passed by bare-majority votes in both houses, would authorize the city to set up one or more sites in a pilot program through January 2022. Drug users would have access to clean needles and syringes, medical care, counseling and social services. Similar programs are operating in 10 nations.
But a day after lawmakers approved AB186 last week, the Trump administration’s deputy attorney general, Rod Rosenstein, in an opinion piece Tuesday in the New York Times, declared injection sites dangerous and illegal and pledged “swift and aggressive action” under a 1986 law known as the Crack House Statute.
“It is a federal felony to maintain any location for the purpose of facilitating illicit drug use,” Rosenstein wrote. He argued that the sites encourage addiction by sending a “powerful message to teenagers that the government thinks illegal drugs can be used safely.”
City officials and other advocates of the sites say their purpose is not to facilitate drug use, but to protect the users from overdoses and other lethal consequences while giving them a chance to get their lives under control and making the streets safer.
“Research has shown these programs reduce overdose mortality, public injection, litter from drug use … while increasing access to treatment, safe-use behaviors, and entrance into detoxification services,” said the bill’s author, Assemblywoman Susan Eggman, D-Stockton.
San Francisco Mayor London Breed, who lost a younger sister to a drug overdose in 2006, says she’s willing to fight the federal government in court to allow the injection sites.
“People are going to shoot up, and we don’t have control over that,” Breed said in July. “There’s a way to get it indoors so it’s not impacting our streets in a negative way. … These places provide a location for people to be when they’re going through what they’re going through.”
California has been down this road before. The state was the first to legalize the medical use of marijuana, in a 1996 initiative, and since then has battled a series of presidential administrations over enforcement of the federal ban on all uses of marijuana.
In 2005, the clash reached the U.S. Supreme Court, where California argued that pot dispensaries were not engaged in interstate commerce when they supplied marijuana that was grown entirely within the state, and thus were not subject to federal regulation. The court disagreed in a 6-3 ruling, leading to federal closures of hundreds of dispensaries in the state under the George W. Bush and Barack Obama administrations.
The federal sweeps eventually prompted congressional action, in 2015, to prevent further shutdowns.
The federal government couldn’t rely on the same drug bans to go after safe injection sites, though, because — unlike the marijuana dispensaries — the city wouldn’t be supplying any drugs, said Marsha Cohen, a law professor at UC Hastings in San Francisco.
That’s where the Crack House Statute comes in.
The law prohibits anyone from “knowingly” opening, maintaining or managing a “place for the purpose of unlawfully manufacturing, distributing, or using a controlled substance.”
The statute was passed at a time of rising crack cocaine use in inner cities and was directed at private criminal outposts, not public facilities seeking to provide safety for drug users. But a legislative staff analysis of AB128 said the law would “criminalize both the behavior of the clients using the (safe injection) facilities and the owners or operators of the facilities.”
Maximum penalties under the law include 20 years in prison, fines of $500,000 for individuals or $2 million for an organization, and loss of the property.
Brown has until Sept. 30 to sign or veto AB186, or let it become law without his signature. If it becomes law, federal courts will have to decide whether the broadly worded law passed by Congress in 1986 contains an implied exemption for a government-supervised facility whose ultimate goal is to reduce drug addiction.
“There’s no evidence of (congressional) intent that this would apply to legally permitted public health interventions, trying to prevent deaths and serious injuries,” said Lindsay LaSalle, an attorney with the advocacy group Drug Policy Alliance in Oakland.
Legal analysts who support the injection sites took a similar position in an article in the American Journal of Public Health in 2008.
The federal law “was never intended to interfere with a legally authorized public health intervention” under “states’ traditional authority in public health,” said a team of researchers led by Leo Beletsky, who teaches law and health sciences at Northeastern University. “These arguments are reasonable but are by no means certain to convince federal judges.”
Another 2008 legal commentary, by Michael Rayfield in the University of Chicago Law Review, said the law should be interpreted to apply only to a facility that “meaningfully contributes to the drug activity beyond simply providing a secluded location for it to occur.”
The law could be tested elsewhere. Seattle officials are deciding whether to equip a mobile van as a safe injection site. New York City is considering a proposal to operate one or more injection sites as a medical research program, an option that could sidestep the Crack House Statute but would still require approval from federal agencies.
New York would be following in the footsteps of Vancouver, British Columbia, and Sydney, where medical research programs eventually became government-run safe injection sites in two of the 10 nations that have legalized them.
In any event, as UC Hastings’ Cohen noted, U.S. courts have ruled on the application of the 1986 drug law in a variety of settings, but have not been asked to decide whether it applies to government-run injection centers.
“There seems to be considerable room for argument here,” Cohen said. “Not surprising given that none of these (federal) statutes was designed to deal with those who are in good faith trying to deal with the drug scourge.”
Source: San Francisco Chronicle
Naked Intruder Arrested After Being Found Masturbating in Sleeping Girl’s Bedroom in Fontana
Police on Tuesday said they were searching for possible additional victims of a man accused of entering a Fontana home and masturbating in a 13-year-old girl’s bedroom.
Officers responded to the 14100 block of Stanislaus Court last Thursday after a resident called around 2:42 a.m. to report a male intruder in her home, according to a Fontana Police Department news release.
The woman told police that a naked man went into her teen daughter’s bedroom and started masturbating while she slept, the release stated.
The victim woke up to find the man hovering over her and screamed, causing the suspect to flee, according to police. He ran from the girl’s room, down the stairs and left the home.
Officers arrived at the home within minutes, but the man was gone by then.
However, they were able to obtain surveillance video from the residence that showed the naked man inside. At one point, he “looked directly into the camera and placed his finger over his lips as if signaling to be quiet,” the release said, describing what some of the footage showed.
Detectives quickly identified the suspect as 21-year-old Jonathan Emmanuel Ward of Fontana. He was arrested at his home in the 7000 block of Nebraska Street later that same day, authorities said.
When detectives interviewed Ward, they identified other potential victims — and believe there could be others who haven’t contacted police yet, according to the release.
Ward possibly focused on a dance studio in the Inland Empire, though they did not give the name or area where it was located. He allegedly “became infatuated with several young girls” at the studio, police said.
The suspect is accused of targeting girls through social media, using photos posted to their accounts to figure out where they lived.
“Ward would often enter the rear yards of the victim’s residence and on occasion, enter their homes when he would find an unlocked door,” the release stated.
He was booked into the West Valley Detention Center on suspicion of burglary, child annoyance and indecent exposure, according to inmate records.
Because of a similar arrest last year in Fontana, a $1 million bail enhancement was issued.
Police have scheduled a news conference for Wednesday morning where they are expected to release images and video of the suspect as they try to locate other possible victims.
Man testified he chopped up wife’s body to keep his children
OLATHE, Kan. — A man testified Tuesday that he spent about eight hours cutting up his wife’s body after she died at a Missouri hotel because he was afraid authorities would take away his children.
Justin Rey, 36, said protecting his family was the reason he didn’t call for medical help after his wife delivered a baby at the hotel in October and afterward when she killed herself, The Kansas City Star reported. Investigators later found Rey with his newborn and 2-year-old daughter, along with bags of body parts, at a storage shed in Lenexa, Kansas.
Rey is not charged in his wife’s death, but faces child endangerment charges in Kansas and Missouri and is charged with abandonment of a corpse in Missouri. He took the unusual step of testifying at his preliminary hearing in Kansas, with defense attorney Zane Todd saying Rey wanted to correct some witness testimony. After Tuesday’s hearing, a not guilty plea was entered for Rey to Johnson County, Kansas, charges of two counts of aggravated child endangerment and two counts of contributing to a child’s misconduct.
“It’s something I had to do,” Rey testified. “My family is very dear to me. It’s something I had to do to protect my family.”
One officer who met Rey at the storage unit said the 2-year-old appeared unhealthy and “almost looked like she had cancer.” The baby had a serious eye infection, according to several witnesses. The children were put in protective custody.
Rey has said in the past that his wife died in childbirth, but Lenexa police detective Shannon Murphy testified that Rey told her his wife had killed herself. After having his children pose for photographs with her body, Rey said he “skinned her like a fish,” Murphy testified. Murphy said Rey flushed body parts that would not fit in containers down the toilet.
Deputy Johnson County Coroner Charles Glenn testified that “a number” of stab wounds were found on some parts of Jessica Rey’s body but that it wasn’t possible to tell whether the injuries were inflicted before or after she died.
Rey told the court that he and the children had not been living at the storage locker, as witnesses said, but had been there for only about 11 hours while preparing to travel to Arizona, where he said he intended to give his wife a proper burial. He also said his children were well cared for.
“I didn’t endanger my children,” he testified. “My children were perfectly healthy.”
Rey also denied flushing anything but a placenta down the toilet.
His trial on the Kansas charges was scheduled for Nov. 5.
via: https://nypost.com/2018/09/04/man-testified-he-chopped-up-wifes-body-to-keep-his-children/
Parents arrested after teen dies following religious fast
REEDSBURG, Wis. — Wisconsin prosecutors charged a father and mother Tuesday with child neglect for allegedly allowing their teenage son to starve to death and his brother to become severely emaciated during a religious fast.
Sauk County prosecutors charged Kehinde Omosebi, 49, and Titilayo Omosebi, 48, with child neglect causing death and child neglect causing great bodily harm. Both charges are felonies and carry a combined maximum sentence of 37 years in prison, the Wisconsin State Journal reported.
Sauk County Circuit Judge Wendy J.N. Klicko set bail at $5,000 for Kehinde Omosebi during his initial court appearance Tuesday. His attorney, listed in online court records as Leonie Dolch, didn’t immediately return a voicemail. Assistant District Attorney Linda Hoffman said Kehinde Omosebi told police he believes he has done nothing wrong, the State Journal reported.
Titilayo Omosebi is due to make her initial appearance Wednesday. Online court records didn’t list an attorney for her.
Kehinde Omosebi walked to the Reedsburg police station Sunday to report the death of his 15-year-old son, according to police Chief Timothy Becker. When police arrived at the family’s home they found the dead teen and an extremely emaciated 11-year-old boy. The mother was also found to be emaciated.
Becker said the father told police he was a minister affiliated with Cornerstone Reformation Ministries and that the family had started a religious fast on July 19. Investigators do not believe the father is a minister and made up the name of the ministry, Becker said.
“There’s no IRS number, no corporation,” he said.
No food was found in the house and police had to force their way into the home because doors were padlocked on the inside.
“The residence had no phone, no power, no food,” Becker told the State Journal. “There was a gym bag in the garage with some clothes in it. That was it, with the exception of a tambourine that was found.”
Hoffman, the assistant district attorney, said Kehinde Omosebi told police he was planning to move his family to Atlanta. He sold all the family’s belongings and hadn’t paid rent in several months, she said in court.
Dolch told the court that Kehinde Omosebi had worked at a Reedsburg foundry but has been unemployed since February.
The younger boy and his mother were brought to the hospital. The mother refused treatment, citing religious reasons, and was taken to the Sauk County Jail.
The 11-year-old is in protective custody at Children’s Hospital in Madison. Becker said the parents are eating while jailed in Baraboo. Reedsburg, a community of about 10,000, is located approximately 130 miles west of Milwaukee.
via: https://nypost.com/2018/09/04/parents-arrested-after-teen-dies-following-religious-fast/
Trans man jailed after tricking women into sex with fake penis
A transgender man who used a fake penis to have sex with women — and made one feel ashamed for not getting pregnant — has been jailed.
Carlos Delacruz, 35, hoodwinked two women for years but was eventually turned in to the cops after they discovered what he had been doing.
Delacruz, who was born a woman in Madrid, Spain, appeared in August at Edinburgh Sheriff Court in Scotland, where he admitted penetrating both women with an unknown object without their consent.
Delacruz, from Banknock, Scotland, had refused to allow the women to see him naked and always performed in bed with the lights out.
Both victims, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, were said to have suffered “extreme pain” during intercourse, while both women also suffered from thrush afterward.
Delacruz was jailed for three years and handed a five-year non-harassment order against both women. He was also put on the sex offenders register.
Defense lawyer Cameron Tait said Delacruz had developed “a male appearance” at age 8 before officially changing his name to Carlos when he turned 16.
The court heard Delacruz’s gender is now officially recognized as male and his gender is stated as male on his birth certificate, passport and Spanish identity card, though he has not fully transitioned.
Tait also told the court Delacruz considers the prosthetic penis he used during sex with the women “to be part of him.”
The lawyer added Delacruz is currently in a long-term relationship with a woman and that she is fully aware and consenting to the use of the prosthetic penis he uses during sex.
The judge in Delacruz’s case told him that he had caused “physical and psychological harm” to both women by repeatedly sexually assaulting them with “a flesh and blood penis” during their relationships.
The judge said the first victim was “made to feel like it was her fault” she was not getting pregnant and that “she now suffers flashbacks and panic attacks” due to the incidents.
The judge, who read the victim impact statements, said the woman “now feels dirty and used” and that she was forced to move to get away from him.
The second victim was said to have “bled for days” after having sex with Delacruz around 10 times over an eight-month period and currently suffers from “difficulty with sleeping and eating.”
Prosecutor Kirsten Cockburn told the court that Delacruz had been in a relationship with both women at separate times between May 27, 2013, and May 14, 2017.
The prosecutor added that Delacruz and the woman would have sex around once a month despite her suffering “extreme pain” and only being allowed to touch his body “over his clothing.”
“During their relationship, the woman continued to believe he had a penis,” the prosecutor added.
The prosecutor told the court the woman suffered from thrush following lovemaking sessions with Delacruz.
The couple split up in January 2016 and the woman informed the police in May that year Delacruz had been lying to her and did not have a penis.
Delacruz began a second relationship with another woman in August 2016, and after two months of dating, they moved in together.
The second victim also “believed Delacruz had a penis” and the couple always had the lights off during sex.
The relationship failed in May 2017 due to “financial matters” the couple were having and the court was told the woman discovered Delacruz’s sordid secret the following month.
Cockburn said Delacruz made no comment in a police interview and that he was medically examined while in custody, where it was “found he did not have a penis.”
via: https://nypost.com/2018/09/05/trans-man-jailed-after-tricking-women-into-sex-with-fake-penis/
Couple accused of abusing foster children, forcing them to put dirty diapers in mouths
DEARBORN COUNTY, Ind. – A couple in Dearborn County, Indiana has been arrested for “horrific” abuse against foster children in their care.
Diane and Timothy Combs were arrested last Friday on numerous charges, WXIX reports.
At the time of their arrests, there were eight children in their home: four foster children, one adopted child and three children they were babysitting.
The oldest child is the couple’s adopted daughter. She is 16 years old, and has intellectual and physical disabilities. The other seven children ranged in age from 2 to 8 years old.
Timothy, 59, faces charges of:
- Aggravated battery that causes serious permanent disfigurement
- Domestic battery against a disabled person with bodily injury
- Battery resulting in bodily injury of a person under 14-years-old
- Domestic battery committed in the presence of a child younger than 16-years-old
Diane, 55, faces charges of:
- Aggravated battery and knowingly inflicting injury that creates a substantial risk of death
- Domestic battery against a disabled person causing bodily injury
- Domestic battery with bodily injury to a person under 14-years-old
- Battery on a child
- Domestic battery by bodily waste
- Battery by bodily waste when the victim is 14-years-old, strangulation
- Sexual battery
Authorities told WXIX the arrests came after one of the children recorded video of the abuse and showed it to another person who then called the Dearborn County Sheriff’s Department.
The video shows Diane slapping a naked 6-year-old boy, causing him to fall to the floor. She then slaps him again and forces him to put a dirty diaper into his mouth.
The children told investigators anyone who wet the bed had to put their diaper into their mouth.
The court documents detailed other abuse, including “whoopings,” getting dropped on their heads, and causing injury to their “private parts.”
The abuse detailed in court documents occurred between December 2016 and July 2018.
The couple has fostered 38 different children since 2014.
They’re currently being held in the jail on a $100,000 bond. Their next court appearance is scheduled for October 15.
Asia Argento’s attorney says 17-year-old sexually ‘attacked’ her
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Husband distraught after wife’s body left to rot inside funeral home for 3 years
GREENWOOD, S.C. — The husband of a South Carolina woman whose body authorities said was left inside a funeral home to rot for almost three years says he can’t stop thinking about how poorly she was treated in death.
A grand jury indicted Lawrence Robert Meadows and Roderick Mitchell Cummings with desecration of human remains after prosecutors said they left the body of Mary Alice Pitts Moore in unrefrigerated rooms under blankets and surrounded by air fresheners at First Family Funeral Home’s locations — first in Greenwood and later in Spartanburg.
Fred Parker Jr., who was married to Moore for 38 years, says he talked to the people at First Family Funeral Home once after his wife’s March 2015 death and never heard from them again after her body was prepared for a viewing for a Celebration of Life service.
“Someone, a private investigator, called and she said I just need to ask you a few questions and the next thing I know, the coroner came and met me in Saluda and they told us,” Parker said. “And it’s been messed up ever since. You wouldn’t want to do a dog that bad.”
According to arrest warrants, Cummings and Meadows kept the body because Moore’s family didn’t pay their entire bill.
Parker told The Index-Journal of Greenwood the funeral home never told him he owed money or gave any reason for why they held on to Moore’s remains instead of cremating her as promised.
“I never did get to see them no more, from day one to day two,” Parker told the newspaper. “All he did was take $1,100. My daughter said she gave him $300 and I didn’t know anything about this until this came up. He never did try to contact me or anything, no nothing.”
According to the paper, Parker sued Cummings and Meadows in civil court, along with First Family Funeral Home. Earlier this month, the funeral home’s license was revoked.
According to state records, Meadows lost his personal funeral license in April 2015 in an unrelated fraud case and Cummings never had a South Carolina funeral license.
Meadows and Cummings face up to 10 years and a $5,000 fine if convicted.
“I’m still toting her picture in my wallet. I had to stop looking at it. She was a good woman. That’s all I can say,” he said. “Man, if I could get her back, oh Lord. That’s my heart. That’s my heart.”
Priests caught having sex in car near Miami Beach playground
Two Catholic priests were taken into custody after being caught performing sex acts on each other in a parked rental car near Miami Beach, according to reports.
Diego Berrio, 39, and Edwin Giraldo Cortez, 30, were charged with lewd and lascivious behavior after passersby spotted their tryst in broad daylight inside a Volkswagen Beetle, which was “in full view of the public,” according to CBS Miami.
After receiving a complaint, police arrived at the scene to see the sexual acts still going on. The officers were easily able to spot the two, as the car was parked next to a playground and did not have tinted windows.
The two priests were so engaged that they didn’t notice when police were there until officers tapped on the window, according to CBS.
Both Berrio and Cortez are from Arlington Heights, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. Berrio is a priest at Mission of San Juan Diego, while Cortez served at the St. Aloysius Parish in Chicago. Both were removed from the ministry, according to WPLG.
“It is our responsibility to ensure those who serve our people are fit for ministry,” Anne Maselli, a spokeswoman for the Archdiocese of Chicago, told WPLG. “We take this matter very seriously.