Student, teacher charged with sex crime plan to be together once he’s 18
A teacher’s aide at a high school in Washington state had sex with a 17-year-old boy who told deputies the two plan to be together once he turns 18, authorities said.
Wendy Wagoner, a 49-year-old paraprofessional at Graham Kapowsin High School in Pierce County, was charged Thursday with first-degree sexual misconduct with a minor and communication with a minor for immoral purposes after a school employee caught her kissing the teen last month, according to charging documents obtained by the Tacoma News Tribune.
Wagoner, who oversaw the teen’s specialized educated plan, later resigned from her job after the district launched an investigation into the allegation, saying she “did not deserve” the probe, records show.
The teen, meanwhile, told deputies that he and Wagoner planned to be together romantically once he turns 18, according to charging documents.
“She is my everything,” the teen said — although both he and Wagoner denied having a sexual relationship.
The teen even used his cellphone to search for the legal age of consent in Washington, as well as possible penalties for a student-teacher relationship, the newspaper reports.
The age of consent in Washington state is 16, but there are several exceptions, including when sex acts occur between a teacher and a student. The state Supreme Court has ruled that the law applies to students up to the age of 21.
Investigators also found explicit text messages between Wagoner and the teen, including some sent during school hours.
“I knew what I was doing was wrong, and I’m beating myself up really bad right now,” Wagoner told detectives.
Pierce County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Scott Peters told KIRO that Wagoner told the teen to delete any record of messages they exchanged. Peters said several messages show that they had a sexual relationship, but Wagoner was not charged with raping the teen because he was 17 when the alleged contact occurred.
“For a child rape charge, you need a child under the age of 16,” Peters told the station.
Wagoner also ignored orders by detectives to stay away from the student multiple times, instead opting to use different phones to continue communicating with the teen. A neighbor later reported seeing her hugging the teen last week, deputies said.
Wagoner, of Spanaway, has pleaded not guilty. She was released from Pierce County Jail after posting $50,000 bail, online records show. She could not be reached for comment Friday.
Photo Credit: nypost.com
Neighbors horrified over homeless man pleasuring himself while looking at porn magazines
Sacramento, CA (KOVR ) — People living in downtown Sacramento say they don’t feel comfortable in their own home. Some are even moving, all because of a homeless man.
“Pants pulled down to the ankles pleasuring himself like he was at an amusement park,” said Robert Ellis.
Robert says he looked out his bedroom window to see a homeless man, with his pants down, surrounded by pornographic magazines.
“I did a triple take and that’s when I noticed an obscene act taking place in front of my eyes,” said Robert.
“It was horrifying in broad daylight with pornographic material strewed all around him and not a care in the world,” said Andrea Michon, a concerned parent.
To make matters worse, it happened less than a mile from an elementary and middle school.
“As parents, this is exactly our worst nightmare,” Andrea said.
Robert called the police, and the man was arrested, but since this is a misdemeanor crime, he was released a few hours later.
“That’s very frustrating. Very concerning. But that’s sad because he needs help obviously and I’m sure he didn’t get help in 12 hours,” said a neighbor.
Knowing the man is back in the neighborhood has people feeling helpless and resorting to options they never thought they would.
“It’s gotten me to the point where I think I’m going to have to sell my house now. I don’t want to be here anymore,” Robert said.
Kids in the neighborhood are being told to play just in the backyard, for now.
Photo Credit: Getty Images
Woman broke into home, petted family dog, washed dishes and left
(Meredith) – An Ohio woman was acting “very strange” when she broke into a family’s home this week, according to authorities.
The woman, identified as Cheyenne Ewig, allegedly entered the home in Hamden, Ohio, through the back door Monday morning.
She then sat down on a couch and began to pet the family’s dog before getting up to wash the dishes, the Vinton County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.
The homeowner called police to report the break-in and noted that the woman was acting very strange before she fled the residence.
Later that day, the sheriff’s office said it received another report about a woman, who matched Ewig’s description, knocking on doors in the same neighborhood.
Deputies later arrested Ewig and said she appeared to be under the influence of narcotics. Ewig also told authorities that she hadn’t slept in two days.
She was booked into the South Eastern Ohio Regional Jail on a burglary charge.
Photo Credit: kmov.com/Vinton County Sheriff’s Office
FL Man who tried to pawn baby says it was just a prank
SARASOTA, Fla. – A Florida father sought by police after a pawn shop owner notified authorities of a man trying to sell a baby now says he did it as a social media prank.
Police began searching for the man after they were notified Tuesday by an employee of A&F Pawn Jewelry and Loan who was concerned for the child’s welfare.
Surveillance video shows the man walk into the store and place a child carrier on the glass counter.
“This is what I got,” he says in the Snapchat video, according to WFLA. “I know no one under 18 in here but he’s barely used, seven and a half months old, what do you think he’s worth?”
The exchange alarmed the employee enough that he called police, sparking a manhunt that involved several law enforcement divisions. Detectives also notified the Florida Department of Children and Family Services.
The man in the video, 43-year-old Brian Slocum, of Sarasota, saw himself on the news and called the Sarasota Police Dept. to give a statement.
“They didn’t find it funny or hilarious at all and there was a lot of resources and time and money that went into it,” Slocum told WFLA.
Slocum, who has not been charged with a crime, said he regrets the poor prank and is speaking out to warn others of the potential consequences.
“There’s nothing in the world I would trade for my son, he’s my world,” Slocum said.
via: https://pix11.com/2019/05/09/police-florida-man-who-tried-to-pawn-baby-says-it-was-just-a-prank/
Photo Credit: Getty Images
No prison for Pennsylvania mom whose baby died from drug-tainted breast milk
DOYLESTOWN, Pa. – A Pennsylvania mother who allegedly killed her young son by feeding him breast milk containing a deadly mix of drugs won’t face jail time.
WPVI reported that Samantha Jones, 30, of New Britain Township, took a plea deal with a sentence of three years of probation and 100 hours of community service.
Jones’ 11-week-old son died April 2, 2018. She later told investigators she was taking prescription methadone because of an addiction to painkillers, according to WPVI.
Jones said that she was too tired to prepare formula for the baby on the day the child died, according to a probably cause affidavit obtained by The Morning Call. After Jones woke up around 3 a.m. to the infant’s cries, she decided to breastfeed him instead of going downstairs to mix a bottle.
Jones told investigators that she put him down around 6:30 a.m. and went back to sleep. An hour later, according to the affidavit, she awoke to find the baby’s skin pale and a bloody mucous streaming from his nose.
The district attorney said the child died from a combination of methadone, amphetamine and methamphetamine transmitted through her breast milk.
The baby was pronounced dead after being taken to the hospital.
Photo Credit: pix11.com
Trial of white officer in chokehold death of Eric Garner can proceed
NEW YORK — A New York City judge is allowing a police disciplinary case to proceed against the white officer accused in the 2014 chokehold death of an unarmed black man.
Judge Joan Madden on Thursday rejected Officer Daniel Pantaleo’s claim that a police watchdog agency didn’t have jurisdiction to prosecute the case.
Pantaleo’s trial is scheduled to start Monday.
The Civilian Complaint Review Board is prosecuting Pantaleo under a memorandum of understanding with the NYPD. His lawyer says the department should be handling the prosecution itself.
Pantaleo is charged with reckless use of a chokehold and intentional use of a chokehold in Eric Garner’s July 2014 death on Staten Island.
If convicted, Pantaleo could face punishment ranging from the loss of vacation days to firing. He is currently on desk duty.
Photo Credit: pix11.com
Google debuts new gender-neutral emojis
Google is launching a new feature designed to make the digital world more inclusive.
The internet giant debuted gender-neutral emojis on Tuesday as part of the launch of Android Q Beta.
Those who have one of these phones can download the Beta now. For everyone else, they will be available with the official release of Android Q later this year, a Google spokesperson said.
The latest release includes 53 new non-binary designs. The emojis will feature curly, chin-length hair. In some cases, Google has tweaked the outfits to ensure the emojis appear gender-neutral.
“It is an impossible task to communicate gender in a single image,” a Google designer told Fast Company. “It’s a construct. It lives dynamically on a spectrum.”
via: https://abc7chicago.com/technology/google-debuts-new-gender-neutral-emojis/5292899/
Photo Credit: abc7chicago.com
12-Year-Old Girl Faces DWI Charge After Joy Ride With 3 Kids Leads to Police Pursuit in New Mexico
Authorities say an intoxicated 12-year-old girl went on joy ride in the family car with three other children inside, leading police on pursuit on a New Mexico highway.
The Alamogordo Daily News reported Wednesday that the car fled from Alamogordo police and drove onto U.S. Highway 70 where she passed a New Mexico State Police vehicle.
Alamogordo police say the car then drove through a dirt lot and nearly struck an Otero County deputy.
The chase ended when the car spun out of control and hit a speed limit sign. No one was injured.
The young driver was referred to juvenile services on charges of reckless driving and DWI.
According to police documents, the four children told authorities that they all had been drinking.
Photo Credit: Getty Images
New State Sex Ed Guidance Offers Framework for Discussing Gender Identity With Kindergartners, Masturbation With Middle-Schoolers
California has overhauled its sex education guidance for public school teachers, encouraging them to talk about gender identity with kindergartners and giving advice to help LGBT teenagers navigate relationships and practice safe sex.
LGBT advocates praised the new recommendations for giving such attention to a community that often is left out of sex education policies. But some parents and conservative groups assailed the more than 700-page document as an assault on parental rights, arguing those issues should be taught by parents in the home.
The guidance approved by the California State Board of Education on Wednesday does not require teachers to teach anything. But it is designed to expose them to the latest research and help them make sure students are meeting state standards. It’s also influenced by a 2015 state law that made California one of the first states to address LGBT issues as part of sex education.
Much of the pushback has focused not on the framework itself, but on the books it recommends students read. One suggested book for high schoolers is “S.E.X.: The All-You-Need-to-Know Sexuality Guide to Get You Through Your Teens and Twenties.” It includes descriptions of anal sex, bondage and other sexual activity. Several parents read from the book and held it up so board members could see the pictures, which many described as “obscene.”
But Wednesday, the State Board of Education removed that book, and a few others, from the guidance. State Board of Education member Feliza I. Ortiz-Licon said the books had “created panic” and distracted from the framework’s goals, including teaching students about consent and sex trafficking.
“It’s important to know the board is not trying to ban books. We’re not staying that the books are bad,” she said. “But the removal will help avoid the misunderstanding that California is mandating the use of these books.”
More than 200 people signed up to speak during a public hearing on Wednesday that lasted for several hours. Supporters and opponents mingled together in the lobby of the California Department of Education, where parents handed out snacks to appease their young children while waiting for their number to appear on dry-erase board telling them it was their turn to get one minute of time at the microphone.
Speakers included 16-year-old Phoenix Ali Rajah, a transgender boy who said he is rarely taught information for people like him during sex education classes at his Los Angeles area high school.
“I’m never taught about how to be in a relationship with gay men,” he said, adding that the “conversation with sex starts from a different place.”
Patricia Reyes traveled more than 400 miles from her home in Southern California to bring her six children to the hearing, all of whom attend or have attended public schools. They included her 4-year-old daughter, Angeline, who held a sign that read: “Protect my innocence and childhood.”
“It’s just scary what they are going to be teaching. It’s pornography,” she said. “If this continues, I’m not sending them to school.”
The framework tells teachers that students in kindergarten can identify as transgender and offers tips for how to talk about that, adding “the goal is not to cause confusion about the gender of the child but to develop an awareness that other expressions exist.”
It gives tips for discussing masturbation with middle-schoolers, including telling them it is not physically harmful, and for discussing puberty with transgender teens that creates “an environment that is inclusive and challenges binary concepts about gender.”
Tatyana Dzyubak, an elementary school teacher in the Sacramento area, said she would have a hard time teaching the material. “I shouldn’t be teaching that stuff. That’s for parents to do,” she said.
California’s education standards tell school districts what students should know about a particular subject at the end of every grade level. The state’s curriculum framework gives teachers ideas on how to do that. The state updated its health education standards in 2008. But because of a budget crisis, state officials delayed giving schools a framework for how to teach them. That changed Wednesday.
“As a mom myself, whether you are ready for your kid to have those questions or not, they have them. And they need medically accurate information,” said Cheri Greven, public affairs director with Planned Parenthood of Mar Monte. “Otherwise, who knows what they will find on their own.”
Photo Credit: Getty Images
San Francisco Teacher on Medical Leave for Breast Cancer Is Forced to Pay for Her Own Substitute
A San Francisco teacher who is on medical leave has to worry about more than just battling breast cancer.
On top of footing medical bills, she has to pay for a substitute teacher at Glen Park Elementary School.
All teachers receive 10 paid days of medical leave a year in the San Francisco United School District. If a teacher needs more time, they can get another 100 sick days — at a price. Under a 1976 California law, the cost for the substitute teacher will be deducted from the teacher’s salary.
The average daily cost of a substitute teacher in San Francisco is $203.16, San Francisco United School District spokeswoman Laura Dudnick said. In 2018, the average teacher salary in the school district, excluding benefits, was $82,024.37.
“This reflects California Education Code language related to extended sick leave that applies to all other school districts in California,” Dudnick said in a statement. “This is not unique to San Francisco. This is not a district-only rule.”
Teachers who require additional medical leave can draw from a Sick Leave Bank for up to 85 days without any deduction from their paycheck. Teachers donate unused sick days to the bank to help their colleagues.
Parents say it’s unfair
The Glen Park teacher has chosen to remain anonymous, but parents at the school are speaking out about what they think is an unfair policy.
Parent Elia Hernandez told CNN affiliate KGO that the teacher deserves better treatment. “She’s an incredible teacher and that’s not fair,” Hernandez said. “That’s crazy!”
Another parent, Abby Hipps, told KGO that the the teacher is “one of the best teachers” in the school and called her situation “terrible.”
Susan Solomon, president of United Educators of San Francisco, said her teachers union is hoping to negotiate better sick leave policies next year.
“The issues involving teachers’ use of extended sick leave and the catastrophic sick leave bank, as well as the school district’s use of a daily substitute dock rate, are governed by law and the collective bargaining agreement,” Solomon said in a statement.
“UESF is consulting with our members on their priorities for contract negotiations next year. As always, we look forward to making improvements in this and other parts of the contract.”
A GoFundMe for the teacher that has now stopped collecting donations received $13,000.
Photo Credit: Getty Images