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October 21, 2009 05:50 am   

Police: Son drove as mother made heroin deliveries

Pattrick Anderson

Gloucester Daily Times
Staff Writer

A 46-year-old Gloucester woman has been arrested and accused of taking her 23-year-old son along with her on trips to buy and sell heroin.

Nancy Fulford of 7 Alpine Court was charged Monday night with possession of heroin and distributing heroin after Gloucester detectives found 10 individually packaged bags of the drug in a search of her bedroom, according to the police report.

Her son, Timothy Fulford, was charged with knowing where heroin was kept.

Police also confiscated a hypodermic needle and "numerous" prescription pills.

After her arrest at her home at 5:15 p.m. Monday, Nancy Fulford admitted to purchasing and then selling heroin in Gloucester around four times a week for the past four months, according to the police report.

In his own statement, Timothy Fulford said he had driven his mother around the city as she had made heroin deliveries.

‘Big Brother’ winner allegedly used prize to buy oxycodone

Martin Finucane

Globe Staff                                                                           

October 21, 2009

The grand prize winner of last year’s television reality show “Big Brother,’’ arrested Saturday in Massachusetts on an oxycodone distribution charge, allegedly told federal investigators that he used his winnings to purchase large amounts of the drug.

Adam Jasinski, of Delray Beach, Fla., was arrested at a North Reading strip mall and faces a charge of possession with intent to distribute oxycodone.

Jasinski allegedly agreed with a cooperating government witness to sell the witness 2,000 oxycodone pills. Jasinski flew from his home in Florida to Massachusetts Saturday to deliver the drugs, according to an affidavit filed Monday in federal court by a Drug Enforcement Administration agent in support of the charges.

The agent wrote that Jasinski and the witness met at Logan International Airport. On the drive to North Reading, Jasinski allegedly removed a sock from his “pelvic area’’ containing two plastic bags full of small blue pills.

When the two men stopped at the strip mall, agents approached the car. Jasinski allegedly struggled with agents and threw the sock under an adjacent parked car.

But after waiving his Miranda rights, the affidavit said, “Jasinski stated that for the past several months he had been obtaining thousands of pills of oxycodone and reselling them to customers all along the East Coast.’’

“Jasinski was able to purchase large quantities of pills because he had received $500,000 as the grand prize winner of the CBS reality television show ‘Big Brother Season 9,’ ’’ the affidavit said.

2 former firefighters, civilian clerk charged in disability fraud scheme

October 21, 2009 01:41 PM

By Donovan Slack

Globe Staff

Two former Boston firefighters were charged by federal prosecutors today with faking career-ending injuries to receive tax-free accidental disability pensions, while a fire department personnel clerk was charged with perjury and obstruction of justice in the federal fraud investigation.

Link To Video of fire fighter competing in body building:

http://www.boston.com/video/viral_page/?/services/player/bcpid21913462001&bctid=1664436773

Former district chief James Famolare, 65, and firefighter Albert Arroyo, 47, are facing multiple counts of mail fraud for seeking accidental disability retirements from the city of Boston for allegedly bogus on-the-job injuries, prosectors said.

Arroyo claimed last spring that he fell at a Jamaica Plain firehouse and could no longer work as a fire inspector, but he continued to train as a bodybuilder and participated in a competition just six weeks later.

Famolare claimed he suffered a severe back injury when he moved a box of files at headquarters while filling in as chief of personnel for a day. But prosecutors say Famolare had to shop for a doctor to bolster his claim and witnesses to the supposed injury later recanted.

The clerk, Erika Boylan, 31, allegedly lied while testifying under oath before a federal grand jury about delaying the processing of accidental disability retirement applications.

If convicted, Famolare and Arroyo face up to 20 years in prison and fines of up to $250,000 on each count of fraud. Famolare has been charged with six counts and Arroyo faces two counts, according to the US Attorney's office. Boylan, if convicted, faces up to 15 years in prison.

Boston Fire Commissioner Roderick Fraser hailed the arrests as a step forward in his efforts to overhaul the Boston Fire Department.

"I’m glad the federal government has joined this fight," Fraser said. "We’ve been a full partner with the federal government, cooperating in the investigation. We will continue to work side by side to give taxpayers the department they deserve."

Federal prosecutors did not say whether more arrests are forthcoming in the probe.

The fraud investigation began 18 months ago and followed a series of Globe reports about disability pension fraud. The newspaper reported in January 2008 that Boston firefighters had claimed an unusual rash of career-ending injuries in recent years, sending the rate of disability retirements skyrocketing to 74 percent of all retirements -- more than twice the rate of similarly sized cities.

Between 2001 and 2007, some 167 firefighters reported career-ending injuries while on the job. A majority of them had claimed they were injured on the same day they were filling in for a supervisor, which allowed them to qualify for a pension at the higher pay rate. A state law designed to reform the pension system passed earlier this year eliminates that so-called "king-for-a-day" provision, which allowed firefighters who were filling in for superiors to receive pensions at the superiors' pay rate.

The Globe also reported that the processing of scores of disability pension applications were delayed for inordinate lengths of time, sometimes years, allowing firefighters to collect 100 percent of their salary, tax free, while they waited for their disability retirements to be approved.

The clerk indicted today, Boylan, allegedly lied to investigators while testifying under oath about participating in the delay of disability retirement applications. According to the indictment, Boylan said she never delayed them and was never asked to delay them. But the indictment said she was asked, "on at least one occasion to delay the processing of paperwork for a firefighter who had filed for accidental disability retirement."

Boylan was put on paid administrative leave today from the fire department, pending the outcome of the case.

Arroyo reported on March 21, 2008, that he had slipped on a stairway and injured his back. The incident occurred without witnesses in a firehouse where he was not assigned to work, records show. He went on injured leave and within weeks, a doctor recommended him for an accidental disability pension, saying he was "totally and permanently disabled."

But three days after his initial injury report, the indictment says, Arroyo worked out with a trainer at a Gold's Gym, and on May 3, Arroyo placed eighth in a men's bodybuilding competition, the 2008 Pro Natural American Championships. After the Globe published a video of the competition, Fraser ordered Arroyo back to work. When he didn't show, the fire commissioner fired Arroyo.

At the time, a lawyer representing Arroyo said bodybuilding was good for his back injury. But Arroyo didn't disclose the physical activity in his disability pension application submitted in June 2008, according to the indictment.

"In his application for disability retirement, Arroyo falsely stated that he had not participated in any sports or strenuous activities within the last year when in fact Arroyo had made numerous visits to various gyms during that one year period and was then training, including weight lifting, for a May 2008 body building competition," the indictment states.

Famolare claimed he suffered a career-ending back injury when moving a box of personnel files on June 18, 2006, when he was filling in for a single day as a deputy chief. He went out on injured leave at the higher pay rate, $155,000 per year, instead of his own, which was $127,000 annually.

Famolare collected the enhanced pay tax-free for more than two years while he awaited processing and approval of his disability retirement application, which would have awarded him 70 percent of the deputy chief's salary, tax free, for life. But in July 2008, his medical file was one of three that went missing from department headquarters and a witness who had signed his injury report recanted, saying he hadn't seen anything but had merely endorsed a form that Famolare asked him to sign.

Famolare abruptly withdrew his disability pension application, and asked for a regular, taxable pension instead. In a letter to the city's retirement board at the time, he said he was withdrawing his disability claim because he did not believe he could get a fair hearing.

The federal indictment says that shortly after his initial injury report, Famolare consulted with a doctor who declined to characterize his injury as so severe that he could never return to work as a fire department administrator.

"Shortly thereafter, in or about September 2006, Famolare had one visit with a second doctor ... who had never treated him before, but who had a reputation of regularly certifying total and permanent disability," the indictment says. "This second doctor immediately wrote a disability opinion after the one, short office visit with Famolare."

The indictment did not identify the doctor by name, but records show the physician is Dorchester neurologist Dr. John F. Mahoney. Mahoney is the same doctor who treated Arroyo and recommended him for accidental disability retirement.

Since 2001, Mahoney has evaluated 25 firefighters whose injuries he determined to be so severe that the city should award them accidental disability pensions, according to the records obtained last year under a public records request. A lawyer for Mahoney last year declined to comment on specific cases, but said in general, Mahoney made the best determinations he could based on information he was provided.

"Doctors don't have an obligation to independently corroborate injury," said the lawyer, Paul Cirel, citing Massachusetts court decisions regarding information provided by patients. "Doctors don't always agree on a prognosis; there is a fair amount of objectivity and there is a certain amount of subjectivity."

'Crash for cash' fraudster who staged 93 accidents in $1.6m insurance scam is jailed

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 6:09 PM on 21st October 2009

A fraudster who enjoyed an extravagant lifestyle on the proceeds of staged accidents and cost the insurance industry $1.6million was jailed today.

Mohammed Patel, 24, charged $500 a time to stage accidents which enabled fraudsters to claim an average of $17,000 from insurers.

He staged at least 93 crashes, earning himself around $46,000, Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court heard.

Patel, of Nottingham Drive, Bolton, Greater Manchester, admitted one count of conspiracy to defraud, six counts of dangerous driving and four counts of driving while disqualified.

He was jailed for four-and-a-half years today and banned from driving for three-and-a-half years.

William Baker, prosecuting, said Patel's earnings funded an 'Aladdin's cave' at the home of his unemployed girlfriend Ettorina Hay.

The pair enjoyed luxurious foreign holidays and drove expensive cars, the court heard.

Mr Baker said the scam was only exposed after office workers at a construction company overlooking a major roundabout became suspicious 

Describing the set-up, Mr Baker said: 'One vehicle colliding with another at low speed with minor damage and often the same person driving the lead vehicle.

'They told drivers of the rear vehicles they thought they were the victim of fraud."

Mr Baker said: 'Mohammed Patel staged the road traffic accidents. He drove cars on to the roundabout and then stopped them so abruptly the vehicle behind could not avoid a collision.

'He did this because of the widely-held belief that the person who drives into the rear of someone else is in the wrong and they will admit liability.'

Fraudulent claims, submitted by people not present at the scene whom Patel purported to be, were then made.

Claims would include compensation for injuries, such as whiplash, damage to the vehicle, a hire car, and storage of the damaged vehicle.

Mr Baker said Patel staged the accidents between May 2005 and August 2008, and each claim averaged $17,000.

The cost to the motorist of a fraudulent 'cash for crash' claim is an extra $49 a year on their insurance premium, he addedMr Baker said: 'He spent more than $46,000 in cash on two cars, designer clothes, holidays, and paying the domestic bills of his girlfriend.

'There's evidence he received $500 per claim... and was involved in staging at least 92 collisions.'

Patel was arrested days after he was observed staging two accidents in a single day, the court heard.

On July 30 last year he staged an early afternoon collision at Junction 10 on the M65 near Burnley, Lancashire.

At around 5pm he staged another accident, while driving a Golf, at Trafford Park in Manchester, and gave a false name.

Mr Baker said that Patel was laughed at by the other party when he asked for $950 to cover the damage to his vehicle.

Suspicion: An aerial shot of Eden Point roundabout where office workers saw a series of similar crashes in late 2005

Patel was arrested in Bolton on August 7 last year and gave a prepared statement to police. He pleaded guilty to the charges at the earliest opportunity.

Patel paid $46,000 into his girlfriend's bank account, the court heard.

When police searched Hay's   Bolton home, they found receipts from stores including Selfridges, Toys R Us and Marks & Spencer.

A $965 receipt for a flat-screen television was discovered at the single mother's home.

A $10,000 second-hand Mercedes C Class Coupe and a $14,000 Lincoln Navigator, which cost a total of $3,700 to insure, were also in her name, the court heard.

The pair enjoyed trips to Turkey, Barcelona and France. Patel paid $1,000 for his girlfriend to visit her brother in South Africa and even contributed towards her grocery bill.

Mr Baker said: 'The two enjoyed a high lifestyle from the proceeds of fraud.'

He said Hay, who is from Malawi and has a son, 'enjoyed a much higher standard of living than she would have experienced living on benefits of $90 per week'.

Her home was newly decorated and 'full of expensive furniture and electrical equipment', Mr Baker said.

Hay admitted one count of converting criminal property and one count of possessing criminal property.

She is due to be sentenced on December 18 and faces a maximum sentence of seven years.

Link to Photo of Patel and accident scenes:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1221960/Crash-cash-fraudster-staged-accidents-1-6m-insurance-money-jailed.html#ixzz0UcYgUQMA

LINK TO VIDEO OF PATEL:

http://player.video.news.com.au/heraldsun/?WkWfozDwyGUhcsywWL6Rb6XRWlFKtl2k

Child's stare sparks restaurant argument

11:39 a.m. Wednesday, October 21, 2009

A College Park woman was charged with disorderly conduct after an argument at an Alpharetta restaurant that started because another customer's 5-year-old daughter was staring at her, police said.

The incident happened Oct. 1 at the McDonald's on North Point Parkway, according to an Alpharetta police incident report.

Ken Garrison told police that while he and his daughter were eating in a booth, Nicole Gomez, 39, became angry because the 5-year-old was looking over the back of the bench at her.

According to the report, Gomez "told Garrison that he needed to control his daughter because she was ‘[expletive] with her.' "

Told that she was being overly sensitive, Gomez "called Garrison a bitch and then moved to a booth further away," the report states.

Garrison told police that when he later went to refill his drink, he stopped by Gomez's booth and again told her that she was being overly sensitive, and Gomez then told him to "get out of my face, bitch."

As Garrison turned to leave, Gomez threw ice and a drink from a cup at him, according to the report, and he then asked the manager to call police.

Alpharetta police Officer J.P. Robinson wrote in the report, "I spoke with Gomez, who stated she was upset because the little girl was looking over the back of the bench and thought that Garrison was telling her to do it."

The officer also spoke with a McDonald's employee at the front counter who "stated she did not hear any of the cursing but did see Garrison at Gomez's table. She heard Gomez tell Garrison to please go away and leave me alone three times."

Gomez at first denied cursing, according to the report, but later admitted she called Garrison a "bitch" and used another expletive loud enough to be heard by other customers and by Garrison's daughter.  She was cited for disorderly conduct and released.

In 1998, Gomez was sentenced to six years in prison on child cruelty charges after pleading guilty to abandoning her newborn daughter in a Dumpster at the Clayton County apartment complex where she was living at the time. The baby survived, and Gomez was released from prison in 2002.

http://www.tampabay.com/video/?bcpid=2439399001&bclid=2652468001&bctid=45612748001

http://gannett.a.mms.mavenapps.net/mms/rt/1/site/gannett-indianapolis-532-pub01-live/current/launch.html?maven_playerId=immersiveplayer&maven_referralPlaylistId=1fd8def560972d98d8e146db28600a79043bb934&maven_referralObject=1301000010

Girl, 16, died from heroin overdose despite mother's pleas for social services to save her daughter

David Wilkes
7:27 PM on 20th October 2009

The despairing parents of a teenage girl pleaded with police and social services for help her after she got hooked on heroin - but the authorities did nothing to save her, an inquest heard today.

Schoolgirl Kate Walsh, 16, was popular and a talented flautist before she met 25-year-old drug addict Alex Charlamow and spiralled into addiction under his influence, the coroner was told.

Her parents Deborah and Anthony Walsh, a sound engineer, sought help to stop her in the months before her death from a heroin overdose but say she fell into a ‘grey area’ - being too old for children’s services and too young for adult care services, which begin at 18.

Kate ended up in hospital twice after overdosing as she moved between supported lodgings, squats, and spells back at her family home.

She was reported missing by her parents five days before workmen boarding up a squat in a red-light district of Swindon, Wiltshire, found her body.

Her mother said Kate had kept her relationship with Charlamow, who lived in the Salvation Army run rehabilitation centre close to her home in Highworth, near Swindon, a secret for a year and a half.

Mrs Walsh, 45, who gave up her job as a postmistress as she struggled to cope with her daughter’s death, told the inquest: ‘We didn’t find out until she was 16 and by then it was too late.’

When the rehab centre found out that Charlamow was in a relationship they kicked him out, as it was against the rules.

But Mrs Walsh criticised the centre, saying: ‘They didn’t take steps to find out who it was, and they knew it was a young girl.

Kate Walsh as a young girl before the heroin addiction took hold

‘I feel that the manager really failed. He failed Alex because Alex was supposed to be rehabilitated.

‘He failed Kate because she could then see Alex, and he failed us because we lost our daughter.’

Mrs Walsh recalled the agonising times when Kate would leave home, which began on May 3rd, 2003, and how she drifted in and out of ‘supported lodging’ houses and squats.

She said: ‘If a 16-year-old wants to leave home there’s nothing you can do about it. You’re not allowed to lock them in the house.’

The inquest at Trowbridge Town Hall heard how police once had a warrant to enter a house Kate was staying in with other drug users.

Mrs Walsh said: ‘We told them Kate was in there taking heroin, but they wouldn’t execute the warrant. They just went and knocked on the door and asked for her.

‘They said, “Your parents have reported you as missing”.

‘But she said, “I’ve been living away from home for six months.” And that was that.

‘They knew she was in there taking heroin, as was everyone else, but they didn’t do anything about it.’

She also told the inquest about a failed ‘strategy meeting’ that was set up by social services-appointed ‘personal advisor’ to Kate, Michaela Norton, while Kate was in a supported lodging.

‘The meeting was supposed to decide what was the best way forward to help Kate,’ said Mrs Walsh. ‘But no plan forward was agreed because Kate turned up, she said she’d taken various different drugs, so the meeting fell apart.

‘People had to go - there were other meetings. It was decided the case wouldn’t be placed on the child protection register because Kate had access to all the relevant agencies.

‘It wasn’t the right help. It wasn’t what Kate needed.’

Kate had to shoplift to fund her £150 day drugs habit and had been arrested for the crime, the inquest heard.

Her mother believes she should have been put into ‘secure accomodation’ by social services - similar to being sectioned under the Mental Health Act - instead of the ‘supported accomodation’ that was offered.

After her second overdose in November 2003, Kate said: ‘Mum, I did it on purpose - I don’t want to live.’

Mrs Walsh said she had then asked staff at Gloucester Royal Hospital to section her daughter. But a psychiatric nurse determined Kate was not suffering from a mental health disorder, the inquest heard.

Mrs Walsh said she told social services that next time Kate left home she would die.

I didn’t know about secure accomodation until after Kate died, which is why I asked for her to be sectioned. But now I know that’s what should have happened,’ she said.

Kate was reported missing by her parents for the last time on December 30th, 2003. Her body was found on January 3rd, 2004. The inquest was originally opened that month but has since been delayed because of ‘serious illness’ to an unspecified party.

The inquest continues.

LINK TO PHOTOS:

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1221733/Schoolgirl-16-died-heroin-overdose-despite-parents-pleas-social-services-save-daughter.html#ixzz0UWT5agQF

Goodbye crack, hello OxyContin

Stephen Lam/The Chronicle

Pills are the new focus in the Tenderloin

New Police Chief George Gascón's focus on undercover drug stings in the Tenderloin has had an interesting side-effect: far fewer sales of heroin and crack cocaine, and more sales of OxyContin and other pills.

We told you last month about "Operation Safe Schools," the focus on heroin and cocaine sales within 1,000 feet of schools. Under California law, such deals come with a bail enhancement and an extra three to five years in prison. Everybody arrested with the enhancement since the operation's start in mid-September remains in jail with a bail of at least $100,000.

But it seems the undercover operation has run its course.

"The guys who were selling the coke and heroin just aren't down there anymore. It kind of flushed them out," said Lt. Jim Miller of the field operations bureau. "Word's getting around that if you sell around the schools in the Tenderloin, you're not getting out of jail...It's a huge deterrent that we didn't anticipate."

That's not to say the Tenderloin has turned into Mayberry. Far from it. The dealers are still there; they're just selling painkillers like OxyContin which costs $40 a pill on the streets.

Asked whether he thought state law should be changed so dealing pills near schools comes with the same penalty as heroin and crack, Miller said, "Definitely."

"Pills now are a huge part of street sales, at least in some areas of San Francisco, and they're extremely addictive," he said. "And the kids don't see whether it's cocaine or a pill - all they see is some drug dealer across the street selling drugs. It really doesn't matter what's being sold - it still has the same impact on the kids."

Heather Knight

October 20 2009 at 11:15 AM

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/cityinsider/detail?entry_id=49774&tsp=1#ixzz0UWLPzSKj

99-year-old is safest driver - no speeding tickets in 84 years

99-year-old George Geeson could be Britain's safest driver.

Telegraph UK

10:37AM BST 20 Oct 2009

99-year-old George Geeson could be Britain's safest driver Photo: MASONS NEWS SERVICE

After 84 years of driving he has never had a speeding ticket or caused an accident during nearly one million miles at the wheel.

Mr Geeson got his licence at the age of 15 in 1925 driving a Model T Ford and bought his first car, a Wyllis-Overland Whippet, 10 years later for two pounds and ten shillings (£2.50).

He has owned dozens of cars and motorbikes in 84 years of driving and has no trouble on the roads despite never having to sit a formal driving test.

Mr Geeson, a grandfather-of-three, has only ever been involved in one accident - when another motorist shunted into the back of him in the pouring rain in 1958.

Mr Geeson a former garage owner, of South Witham, near Grantham, Lincs., said his driving motto is safety first and he had always been careful to observe the law.

He said: ''I have always said to myself if I stay on the right side of the law I've no reason to be scared of anyone or anything.

''We used to think that 60mph was very fast but now people seem to drive at 100mph and that's too fast for me.

''I've always been careful. Even the one accident I did have was down to somebody else."

Mr Geeson opened the Fox Garage on the A1 in Lincolnshire with his brother Leonard in 1932 when it was still known as the Great North Road.

He first got behind the wheel of a Ford Model T in 1925, as an apprentice earning just one penny an hour - but he could not afford to buy his own car until Christmas Day 1935.

Mr Geeson nows drives a red Peugeot 106, but said his first love will always be the Ford.

GEORGE'S CARS:

First drove a Model T Ford in 1925

Owned:

1935 - blue Willys-Overland Whippet

1937 - black Ford 8 saloon

1939 - black Ford Anglia 'standard'

1940 - blue Buick Special saloon

1941 - grey eight-seater Humber Pullman

1941 - grey Model A Ford

1953 - green Ford Popular

1959 - green with white top Ford Consul

1963 - Ford Consul

1965 - dark blue Jaguar 3.8 S-type

1970 - green Chrysler Valiant

1974 - dark blue Triumph Spitfire1500

1976 - blue Austin Maxi

1980 - green Austin 1100

1984 - Austin 1100

1997 - red Peugeot Diesel 306

2001 - red Peugeot 106

Social services 'to take baby from teenager deemed too stupid to marry'

A mother-to-be, who was banned from marrying after social workers said she is not intelligent enough, is to have her baby taken away immediately after giving birth.

Murray Wardrop

Telegraph UK
3:57PM BST 18 Oct 2009

Kerry Robertson, 17, who has mild learning difficulties, has been told that she will not be allowed to bring up her own child, who she has already named Ben.

Last month Miss Robertson was prevented from marrying her fiancé Mark McDougall, 25, after council officials claimed that she “did not understand the implications of getting married

She has now been warned that she will only be allowed a few hours with her baby, which is due in January, before it is taken into foster care.

After hearing the news, Miss Robertson, of Dunfermline, Fife, who is 26 weeks pregnant, said: “I couldn't believe it. I am so upset – I can't stop crying.”

Mr McDougall, an artist, said he wants to take on full responsibility for his son but claims that he is powerless because he is not married to Miss Robertson.

He added: “Social Services are ruining our lives. As we are not married – because social workers would not let us marry – it seems I have no rights as a dad at all.

“Kerry's gran is trying to apply for custody of Ben but social services have already told us it is unlikely she will be successful. We feel helpless.”

The extraordinary case first came to light last month when the couple’s wedding was halted 48 hours before Miss Robertson was due to walk up the aisle.

Under Scottish law, a registrar may refuse to marry a couple if they believe one or both the parties lack the mental capacity to understand what the institution of marriage is about.

In a highly unusual step, Dunfermline Register Office refused to sanction the marriage after Fife council wrote a letter of objection.

Miss Robertson was brought up by her grandmother from the age of nine months because her parents were unable to look after her and her welfare has since been overseen by the council’s social workers.

She met Mr McDougall, from Arbroath, in January and the couple planned to get married after Miss Robertson became pregnant.

Two days before the ceremony, two social workers visited their flat and told them that the marriage was illegal because of Miss Robertson’s learning difficulties.

The service and reception for 20 guests had to be called off despite the couple having already bought rings and a wedding dress.

At the time, Miss Robertson said: “I know what marriage is. It is when two folks want to spend the rest of their lives together. I love Mark and I want to get married to him.”

Mr McDougall added: “Despite arguing that we loved one another and didn't want our baby to be born to unwed parents, they would not budge. It's a nightmare.”

He claims that social services have exaggerated the extent of Miss Robertson’s learning difficulties and that she is hoping to go back to college to catch up academically.

The council said it does not comment on individual cases. But Stephen Moore, the council's executive director of social services, said: “Much of the work we do is governed by legislation. Complex decisions are made that balance risk and welfare while supporting people at times of personal or family need.

"We will always work with people for the best outcome for all involved.”

In May it was disclosed that Rachel Pullen, 24, had her three-year-old daughter taken away from her by social services when she was six months old after Nottingham City Council officials deemed her too stupid to look after the child.

LINK TO PHOTO:

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1212867/Youre-intelligent-marry-bride-told.html#ixzz0UUZAyLHg

                                                      ORIGINAL STORY

'You're not intelligent enough to marry', bride told

Alison Smith Squire
Last updated at 10:19 PM on 11th September 2009

Social workers banned a young woman from her own wedding in an extraordinary row over whether she is bright enough to get married.

Kerry Robertson, who has mild learning difficulties, was told her wedding was being halted just 48 hours before she was to walk up the aisle with fiance Mark McDougall.

Miss Robertson, 17, had bought her wedding dress and the couple had booked the church ceremony, bought the rings and organised a reception to be held last Saturday.

But two days before they were due to say their vows in front of 20 guests, social services told the bride-to-be that she would have to cancel the big day because she 'did not understand the implications of getting married'.

Yesterday, Miss Robertson, who is five months pregnant, said the decision was cruel.

She said: 'I am still so upset about everything. I know what marriage is. It is when two folks want to spend the rest of their lives together. I love Mark and I want to get married to him.'

Miss Robertson, of Dunfermline, Fife, has been in the care of her grandmother since she was nine months old after her parents were unable to look after her, with her welfare overseen by social workers at Fife council.

In January this year, she met Mr McDougall, a 25-year-old artist from Arbroath. When Miss Robertson became pregnant, they began making wedding plans.

Mr McDougall said their nightmare began last Thursday when two social workers arrived at the flat they have shared for the past four months.

He said: 'We were about to go out and make final arrangements for our wedding when we heard a frantic rapping at the door.

'When we opened it, two social workers burst in and told us that the marriage was illegal because Kerry has learning difficulties and did not possess the capacity to make such a decision.

'Kerry burst into tears. 'But despite arguing with the social workers that we loved one another and didn't want our baby to be born to unmarried parents, they wouldn't budge.'

Under Scottish law, a registrar may refuse to marry a couple if he believes one or both the parties lack the mental capacity to understand what the institution of marriage is about.

In a highly unusual step, the registrar at Dunfermline Register Office refused to sanction the marriage after Fife council wrote a letter of objection.

Mr McDougall claims Miss Robertson's learning difficulties are not severe. 'It's true she is not very academic,' he said. 'But she is nowhere near as stupid as social services are making out.

'She is a loving caring person. She can also read and write, although not very well, and was going to college to catch up.

'I didn't even know she had learning difficulties until we'd been dating for two months.

'At that time, social services said they were pleased we were together and seemed supportive.

'For the first time in her life Kerry was truly happy so we cannot understand what all the fuss is about.'

The couple are concerned that their unborn baby, a boy they have already named Ben, could be taken away if Fife council judges Miss Robertson unable to care for him.

She now faces a psychologist's assessment to determine if she is too unintelligent to get married.

Mr McDougall said: 'We are both going to fight this all the way. We feel the fact we want to get married should be encouraged, not forbidden.'

Helen Townsend of Fife council said: 'We cannot discuss details of individual cases for reasons of confidentiality.'

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1212867/Youre-intelligent-marry-bride-told.html#ixzz0UUbFEuVP

Alcatraz: Life on the rock

The former prison on Alcatraz may appear benign from afar, says Tim Jepson, but in the flesh it is a chilling memorial to darker times.

Tim Jepson
11:12AM BST 19 Oct 2009

Previous1 of 3 ImagesNext Alcatraz had been a lighthouse, fort and military prison before it became a federal penitentiary in 1934 Photo: GETTY Alcatraz was designed as the first 'super-prison' where rapists, murderers and vicious or extreme prisoners could be kept under one roof Photo: GETTY

The first surprise is how close it is to San Francisco Photo: GETTY

San Francisco is a tremendous city, and largely free of tacky tourist attractions, but I was certain one of its big draws – Alcatraz – would be unable to resist going down the Disney route, peddling a sanitised, Hollywood version of both prison and prison life.

The more so, as the island is reached from San Francisco's redeveloped waterfront, the Embarcadero, a long string of numbered piers, many still gritty, working wharves, others – such as Pier 39 – one of the city's few tourist ghettos: all souvenirs and fast-food outlets. But I was wrong. A visit to Alcatraz is a revelation.

Things start predictably enough. You board a gaudy boat full of chattering, camera-wielding companions, and chug towards "The Rock", as Alcatraz was known. The first surprise is how close it is – just a mile and a half from shore – the second, how pretty it looks; a pivotal feature of the matchless San Francisco Bay, perfectly framed by the Golden Gate Bridge in the distance.

From the boat, the illusion that this might have been a rather pleasant place to do time persists – what views back to the city and across the water, and what a pastoral-looking little island.

Step ashore, however, and you are quickly disabused. The place is battered, creepy, moribund, gloomy, depressing, dusty, drab, grey, seedy. But its appearance is by design, the work of the National Parks Service, sensitive custodians of the site who have avoided any sanitisation or sentimentalising of the past or place.

Little, in fact, has been done, other than basic maintenance, since Robert Kennedy, then the Attorney General, ordered the prison's closure in 1963, partly because it was so expensive to run – $10 per prisoner per day, as opposed to $3 elsewhere in the federal prison system – and partly because the bay was being horribly polluted by the sewage from the island's 250 prisoners and the 60 Bureau of Prisons guards and their families.

From the jetty, we join a guided tour and walk past crumbling guardhouses and other buildings, all peeling paint and pitted stone, to the main block and canteen, a forbidding space for which the word institutional might have been coined. Chatter in the group is now rather more subdued.

Alcatraz had been a lighthouse, fort and military prison before it became a federal penitentiary in 1934, designed as the first "super-prison" where rapists, murderers and recidivist, predatory and otherwise dangerous, vicious or extreme prisoners could be kept under one roof. Segregation on such a scale had never before been attempted. Al Capone was the most famous inmate, brought here from Atlanta, where he had been able to continue his rackets from his cell by buying off guards. No such joy at Alcatraz.

No joy of any sort, I imagine as we walk to the main cell block, made up of the most basic cells: rectangles, with no doors, just bars – cages, really – in long lines, with identical levels above. No windows. The tiny size is the most striking thing – seven or eight feet by five; that, and what must have been an extraordinary lack of privacy.

Unless, that is, you were in solitary, as many invariably were, notably Robert Stroud, the famous "Birdman of Alcatraz", who spent six of his 17 years on the Rock in solitary (and a total of 42 years in solitary during his 54 years of incarceration here and elsewhere). The cells in solitary are even smaller, and even more depressing – which is saying something.

Back out into welcome sunlight, my gaze turns to the beautiful view of San Francisco and, inevitably, to escape (most questions to our guide relate to escape, followed by queries on riots and violent death). The city looks so close. Surely it's an easy swim? You'd think so, until you look at the ominous churning currents in the straits. Thirty-six prisoners tried to escape in 14 attempts: 23 were caught, six were shot and killed; two drowned; and five were never found, presumed lost at sea.

The Parks Service background to Alcatraz suggests prisons are often a reflection of the time in which they are created, and that Alcatraz represents the US government's response to post-Prohibition and Depression-era America, born of necessity, and tailored to, and shaped by, a dour and violent decade.

True or not, it is a testament to the Parks Service's studied neglect of Alcatraz that this tiny fossil, in one of the world's most beautiful modern cities, continues to cast the chill, sombre

JANESVILLE—A Massachusetts man is in custody at the Rock County Jail today after allegedly kidnapping a West Springfield, Mass., car salesman during a test drive and driving the stolen vehicle more than 1,000 miles overnight before getting caught speeding early Friday morning in Rock County.

A Wisconsin State Patrol trooper, according to a lead dispatcher at the Rock County Communications Center, pulled over Aleh Kot, 32, of Massachusetts at 2:30 a.m. at Interstate 90/39 mile marker 165 just north of the Newville exit.

Kot was arrested on charges of operating a motor vehicle without owner consent, speeding and reckless driving, said a Wisconsin State Patrol spokesperson.

Kot is in custody at the Rock County Jail, according to a sheriff’s office spokesperson.

He will be extradited back to Massachusetts to face charges of kidnapping, larceny of a motor vehicle and unarmed robbery, the State Patrol spokesperson said.

The charges stem from an incident Thursday night, when Kot allegedly kidnapped a Balise Honda car salesman during a test drive of a 2010 black Honda Accord.

West Springfield police said Kot refused to turn the car around and continued to drive west on the Massachusetts Pike before dropping the man off at the Stockbridge tollbooth. The salesman was not injured.

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