Articles Posted in Juvenile Crimes

A massive fire that took place at an abandoned mill in Haverhill, Massachusetts is the work of four juveniles from the town who are not yet being identified by law enforcement officials. The eight-alarm fire burned down the entire mill located at 30 Stevens Street on Sunday, September 20^th. The juveniles in question have been arrested by the Haverhill Police Department and are currently being charged with setting the mill ablaze. They are expected to be arraigned during a juvenile session at Lawrence District Court on Thursday.

Haverhill Police Detective Captain Robert Pistone, who is also the spokesman for the Department, has stated that two of the juveniles in question are 15 years old, one of the juveniles is 14 years old, and another juvenile involved in the fire is 16 years old. Law enforcement officials did not immediately identify the name or gender of the juveniles facing charges for the mill blaze. The Department made their announcement on Wednesday night following their investigation into the matter to determine whether it had been an accident or arson. Continue reading

Yesterday, we began discussing the saga of the Pelletiers and the horror show we call the Department of Children and Families (“DCF”). In short, the medical treatment and fate of their 15-year-old daughter (the “Child”) is at issue. The Child has been taken away from her parents (the “Family”) because there was a disagreement as to what disease the Child has. The Family has faith in an expert physician in the field who had been treating the Child for some time.

Unfortunately, Boston Children’s Hospital (“BCH”) staff disagreed with said expert as well as the hospital which HAD been treating the Child, Tufts Medical Center. Because the Family wished to follow the advice of the original doctor, BCH decided to cut off the expert and the Family from the Child. They brought in their good friend DCF to make sure that the Family’s wishes and beliefs could be disposed of like the left-over trash in the hospital cafeteria.

Over the past year, the Child has remained under DCF control and, last week, the Boston Juvenile Court ordered that not only could DCF and BCH continue its destruction, but that the Child would now be moved to foster care since, as described above, the Family could not be trusted.

I sometimes wonder, as I write these blogs, whether anyone is reading them. More importantly, if they are, are they paying attention to the information and the message I am giving?

I have been warning about the out-of-control nightmare known as the Department Of Children And Families (“DCF”) since long before recent revelations of incompetence have come to light. Those revelations had to do with failures to pay necessary attention to children DCF have set up to be victimized in sick and depraved foster homes. I have been spouting warnings about the other, perhaps more insidious, side of this agency which has bastardized the cause of “helping and protecting” our children, let alone families.

Usually, I concede the assumption that the agency and its mindless minions are ” meaning well.” I try to rationalize that despite the great harm they do on a daily basis…they are simply misguided.

I have long decried that many juvenile prosecutions are made of immature and stupid activities which have been long demonstrated by the young…yet, now turned into crimes. I have discussed within these postings how this change in policy has put our kids at greater risk than most people realize.

There are cases, however, in which the accused, although a child, would have been arrested and prosecuted at any time in the recognizable past. Such is the case of a certain 15-year-old boy from Attleboro.

The boy (hereinafter, the “Juvenile”) has been charged with very serious criminal charges. They include, according to law enforcement, allegations of attempted murder, home invasion, kidnapping, assault with intent to murder, intimidation of a witness, operating a motor vehicle without a license, and assault and battery upon a person over 60 thereby causing injury.
The event is said to have happened around 10:00pm on Wednesday night. According to law enforcement, the 63-year-old woman was unexpectedly confronted by the Juvenile inside her home on Cumberland Avenue. The Juvenile is said to have known the woman and also lives on Cumberland Avenue. Police allege that he attacked her and stabbed her multiple times in the neck and torso.

After this initial attack, the police say that the Juvenile took the woman against her will to a pond near the Seekonk line, where he dragged her from the car and attempted to drown her. After failing at that, the Juvenile allegedly then put the woman back in the car and drove her to a third location.
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We began this week talking about Massachusetts campus crimes and offenses and how they were handled in two particular incidents.

In both cases, people have raised the question of whether the punishments were fair.
In one of the cases, those punished have actually brought a civil lawsuit against the school claiming that the punishment was not fair and they were not guilty to begin with.

Despite what the breathalyzer might have said.

If you have no involvement in either of these two cases, you might be wondering why we are talking about it in a criminal law blog.

Let’s see if I can’t answer that question…

Attorney Sam’s Take On School Accusation, Punishment And The Scholastic Record

First of all, although neither of these cases have been pursued in criminal court, one of them at least could have been. That would be the girls accused of drinking. Given that they are high school students, I am going to take a wild guess and assume that they are under the age of 21 years old.

To accuse them of drinking alcohol is to accuse them of committing a crime. Therefore, the school could have called the police at the time they were posted from the dance.

“Well Sam, they were suspended. That went on this school record. Isn’t that just as bad?”

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Sometimes Massachusetts criminal or juvenile defendants strike back!

The Attorney Sam’s Take blogs have often discussed the plight of the young who find themselves faced with crimes or school offenses. We began the week with Harvard University’s latest cheating scandal. High School campuses have their own share of campus crimes.

Some say it is fair…others unfair. But whoever controls the record, criminal or scholastic, wins.

Or do they?

I have long bemoaned the fact that, however such cases end, as soon as such defendants are arraigned, the matter is entered upon their criminal/juvenile record. Usually, whether or not the allegations are said to have taken place on school property, there are also school ramifications which are then listed on the school record.

With either or both markings of records, the future is suddenly bleak for the accused who will have to address the listings for the forseeable future.

Now, two such Weymouth High School seniors are awaiting trial in a civil lawsuit they have brought against the school system. They have sued the school system over their breathalyzer-related suspensions after the homecoming dance. they say that they are eager for their day in court.

Among other things, the cases drawn public attention to the use of alcohol detecting tests.

You see, the girls were suspended for nine days “under the guise of a so-called zero tolerance policy” which the students claim violated their due process and civil rights. They say that they had not been drinking and they want this school records expunged in the legal costs paid. The lawsuit is pending in Norfork Superior Court.

The Weymouth School Department denies any wrongdoing and won the first legal battle, convincing a judge not to impose a temporary restraining order preventing punishment.

“The school district is entitled to a substantial deference in the imposition of discipline,” Judge Kenneth J. Fishman wrote in his November 16th decision.
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Today, Attorney Sam’s Take begins a discussion which touches upon a parent’s worst fears…two of them actually. The first is their child becoming addicted to illegal drugs. The other is that child getting a criminal record or even being incarcerated.

Often, these nightmares come wrapped together in a package deal from hell.

The last few blogs, both my daily Attorney Sam’s Takes and those posted by someone else have touched upon the nightmare package.

Things are apparently getting worse. Now, for example, drug-sniffing dogs are being brought into more than 100 high schools in Eastern Massachusetts to search for such illegal contraband. In Quincy, video cameras follow students in the hallways while plainclothes security guards stay alert for drug activity. At Westford Academy, where students admitting in a survey to marijuana use jumped from 16 percent to 25 percent in the past decade, the principal decided to add a full-time police officer to the staff. Newton North High School has stepped up its counseling as it is considered the best way to reach students.

Attorney Sam’s Take On The Criminal Justice Approach To Your Juveniles

There is no question that drugs and alcohol in schools is a huge concern for us both as parents and as a society. However, today, I want to focus on the cost to our kids by this usual law enforcement approach to the problem.
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