Brian L. Willner - Phoenix, AZ

Avondale police arrested a high school teacher after he allegedly sexually assaulted a student.

The Avondale Police Department began an investigation in April after a 15-year-old student at Agua Fria High School told her mother that she had been sexually assaulted by one of her teachers.

According to Detective Reuben Gonzales with the Avondale Police Department, the student was interviewed and submitted to a medical examination.

Gonzales said police determined that Brian L. Willner, 35, was the suspect in this case. He is the school's special education director.

Police say Willner pulled the special-needs student out of class and forced her to have sex with him inside his office. He reportedly threatened to kill the teen's mom if she told anyone.

Police said the girl had cuts and bruises conducive with a sex assault. They also said Willner and the victim tested positive for the same STD.

http://www.azfamily.com/news/local/Avondale-teacher-arrested-for-sexual-assault-of-student-92725324.html

Ann Gibbons - Quincy, MA

Parents of six autistic children are pushing for criminal charges against a teacher who they say abused students in her classroom.

The parents and three teacher aides say the instructor, Ann Gibbons of Middleboro, allegedly engaged in finger-bending and forceful pushing and shoving that caused bruises, cuts, a bleeding lip and limping.

Both the state Department of Children and Families and the Hingham-based South Shore Educational Collaborative, which provides alternative programs for special education students, conducted investigations and found no evidence to support the allegations against Gibbons.

But the parents – who learned of the alleged abuse from three whistle-blower teacher aides assigned to Gibbons’ classroom at Lyons Elementary School in Randolph – say they’re absolutely convinced the allegations are true and believe Gibbons should face assault charges.

The six children in her classroom are all nonverbal.

http://www.patriotledger.com/news/education/x799707425/Teacher-of-autistic-children-in-Randolph-under-fire

Michael Beasley - Ann Arbor, MI

An aide with the Washtenaw Intermediate School District is facing child abuse and assault charges after he was accused of slapping and shoving two special education students under his care, Ann Arbor Police said.

The Pittsfield Township man is accused of slapping a 13-year-old autistic child with an open hand at Scarlett Middle School on Oct. 30.

Detective Sgt. Jeff Connelly said that during his investigation, a detective discovered another incident in which Beasley was accused of shoving a 12-year-old Ann Arbor girl with special needs to the gym floor at Scarlett in mid-October. The girl suffered bruises to her arm, and her parents received a letter about the incident signed by her teacher, police said.

Several parents of students in that class said the aide slapped, pinched, swore at and was physically abusive to children.

http://www.mlive.com/news/annarbornews/index.ssf?/base/news-31/123272526594220.xml&coll=2

Deborah Bailey - Jacksonville, FL

Duval County Public Schools wants to fire a special education elementary teacher who it says pinned a student against a wall while twisting his arm around his back and, later, locked him in a closet.

Deborah Bailey, a special education teacher at Chaffee Trail Elementary School, faces termination today when the School Board votes on the district's recommendation.

According to the district, on Nov. 18 Bailey pushed one of her special education students into a corner and trapped the student with a chair.

"You also held him on the floor while he screamed and cried for help and you twisted his arm," Superintendent Ed Pratt-Dannals wrote to Bailey in a Jan. 16 letter. "You subsequently locked the same student in a closet." It is unknown how long the student was in the closet.

http://tcfpbis.blogspot.com/2009/02/fl-special-ed-teacher-faces-termination.html

Rhona Silver - Jacksonville, FL

A veteran Jacksonville teacher has been charged with child abuse after police were told an autistic student in her class was strapped into a toilet training chair for hours over several days.

The student at Kernan Trail Elementary was restrained in the chair with his pants down during a three- or four-day span in September,  according to the arrest report charging Rhona Silver, 55, with child abuse.

The police report said the student, whose name and age were not provided because of confidentiality rules, is autistic and was buckled to the seat with his pants down and only allowed up for lunch. He was placed in the seat at 9 a.m. and released at the end of the day, according to the report.

http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/crime/2009-03-19/story/teacher_charged_with_abuse_of_student

Sally Forshee - Mapaville, MO

A lawsuit recently filed in federal court by Scott and the parents of eight other students is asking the court to fire implicated staffers, install classroom cameras and eventually dismantle the entire state school system.

After becoming concerned with the quality of care their children were receiving, several parents placed recording devices in their children's backpacks.

After listening to the tapes, some of the parents expressed shock over their content.

"I was in disbelief, just disbelief," said Sheila Scott, whose son, Chandler Scott, was featured prominently on the tape. "I couldn't believe these people who loved and cared for my son would treat him this way."

More than 40 hours of tape was eventually turned over the the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office for investigation.

While no criminal charges were issued, the tapes became evidence in a series of due process hearings for parents who filed abuse complaints against the district.

The incident that Scott found most troubling was the repeated ringing of a bell near her 12-year-old son's face by Forshee.

After saying "watch me send him into a seizure," Forshee rang the bell an estimated 30 times.

Scott said other school staffers present laughed.

http://suburbanjournals.stltoday.com/articles/2009/02/25/jefferson/news/0225jef-map0.txt

Donna Weidenbenner - Gallatin, TN

A 47-year-old special education teacher is facing federal lawsuits alleging she severely abused students under the age of six.

Related: Watch This Story

Donna Weidenbenner is accused of force feeding children until they vomited, shoving them into furniture, kicking them, strapping children to a toilet and restraining them with blankets. Nineteen separate examples of abuse are cited in the charges.

A total of six special needs children were allegedly abused.

http://www.wsmv.com/news/21406011/detail.html

Laurie Peavy and Nancy Cheek - Woodstock, GA

A Georgia teacher and her classroom aide have been arrested for allegedly duct-taping a boy with Autism to his chair on multiple occasions. The abuse was not reported for over a year after it occurred. The two educators are also accused of confining a blind girl under the teacher's desk. Laurie Peavy and Nancy Cheek have both been charged with first-degree cruelty to children and false imprisonment. Peavy faces two counts of each, while Cheek is charged with one count of each offense.

http://www.disaboomlive.com/Blogs/disabled_politico/archive/2009/05/21/teacher-and-classroom-aide-arrested-for-allegedly-abusing-student-with-autism-and-blind-student.aspx

Elizabth Valeriay - Fairfield, CT

Fairfield police have arrested a special education teacher on allegations she punished a 6-year-old autistic student by making the girl take her shirt off in a classroom.
Elizabeth Valeriay, 53, of Madison was charged Tuesday with cruelty to persons.

Police say Valeriay was working at Dwight Elementary School in Fairfield last October when she made the girl take her shirt off for refusing to stop scratching her chest. A police report says the girl had become fixated on striped shirts and was wearing one that day.

Police say Valeriay told them she had been taught to verbally redirect students and remove distractions when they get distracted. She had been a special education teacher for 30 years.

http://www.wtnh.com/dpp/news/news_ap_fairfield_special_education_teacher_charged_with_cruelty_200901080848

Susanne Means - Allen, TX

A longtime Allen teacher stands accused of using a cooking pan to burn the buttocks of a 14-year-old disabled boy in early 2008.
A Collin County grand jury indicted Susanne Means earlier this month on a charge of injury to a child, a first-degree felony.

Also Online

The indictment says she knowingly caused serious bodily injury to the boy, using a cooking pan and also an unknown object. The incident is alleged to have occurred at Lowery Freshman Center, an Allen ISD school.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/DN-alteacher_30met.ART.State.Edition1.4b9f4f4.html

Bereket Haile - Louisville, KY

The mother of a 13-year-old autistic child said a hidden camera in her home caught a caretaker beating her son. That caretaker is now charged with criminal abuse.

Penny Harbin said she is speaking out because both she and police believe her son may not be the only mentally challenged person allegedly abused by this caretaker.

"I can't imagine a day without Chris," said Penny Harbin, but she's been forced to imagine the possibility of losing her son after what she saw captured by a camera hidden in a stuffed animal in her home.

She and her husband put up the camera after noticing odd behavior from Bereket Haile, an in-home sitter provided by a nursing company to take care of her autistic child, who doesn't speak and suffers with seizures.

"In my eyes, he would be a little more rougher than what he should be with Chris," she said. "My husband said, 'Something's not right here; we need to put a camera up and see what actually is going on.'"

She described what the camera caught Haile doing to her son on Sept. 8, as she was out and her husband was in the garage.

"I saw him take his knuckle and extend it out and continue to hit the top of his head," she said. "I also saw him take the TV controller and backhand and hit him underneath the chin to where his head went back. Then I saw Chris lay down on the couch and very softly cry."


Harbin said Haile spat repeatedly on her living room carpet as Chris lay on the couch crying.

After turning over the videotape to detectives, she said they found more abuse.


"He had received one blow that was very, very severe enough that it could have done brain damage," she said. "I feel like there's others out there that he has abused or taken advantage of."
http://www.wlky.com/r/25104320/detail.html

Terry Babbitt, Penelope Miller-Smith, Shelly Jensen - Mona Shores, MI

The Holdens say staff at Mona Shores’ Ross Park Elementary routinely restrained Ethan, who was 3 at the time, in a chair in the classroom. The Holdens said school staff never informed them of the restraints, which Nicole Holden discovered when she visited her son’s Christmas Party.

The couple have said their son has autism, and the lawsuit says he is in special education and has delayed speech that prevented him from telling his parents about his treatment at school.

Named in the lawsuit are the school district, Superintendent Terry Babbitt, former Director of Special Education Penelope Miller-Smith, teacher Shelly Jensen and other unknown staff members referred to as “Jane Does.”

Babbitt said he, nor any staff members, could comment on the pending litigation. He said Miller-Smith is in Germany.

“What the teachers and administrators did to this child is unconscionable,” said David Honigman, the couple’s attorney who is based in Troy. “It is simply inexcusable that they would repeatedly restrain a 3-year-old with a disability and then hide that fact from (his) parents.”

http://www.mlive.com/news/muskegon/index.ssf/2010/09/couples_lawsuit_against_mona_s.html

Lori Davis - Pittsburgh, PA

The mother of an 11-year-old boy with autism -- who's seen being apparently slapped by a teacher in a YouTube video -- has filed a lawsuit against the Pittsburgh Public Schools.


The cell phone video that got Lori Davis fired from her job as an autistic support teacher at the Conroy school in Manchester shows her hitting a student named J.R. on the side of the head, Team 4 reported.


According to the lawsuit, after hitting J.R., the teacher then verbally assaulted him, telling him, "Stop moving your chair back. Move it! And you stay back there! I've had it with you!"

http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/r/20531472/detail.html

Danielle E. Harmer - Camp Hill, PA

A former West Shore School District special-education teacher who was accused of mistreating students with disabilities has lost her right to teach in the state for two years.

Danielle E. Harmer gave up her right to a state Education Department hearing on the complaints in exchange for the suspension of her teacher certificate until June 2011 and dismissal of complaints, according to a department report issued Nov. 30.

According to documents supplied by the state Education Department, Harmer was accused of inflicting physical and psychological pain on autistic students in her class during the 2005-06 school year. She also was accused of verbally abusing aides and of willfully refusing to follow district orders.

A complaint that Harmer had engaged in professional misconduct was filed with the department in November 2006. The department, which did not reveal the source of the complaint, notified Harmer in November 2008.

Some complaints and Harmer’s responses include:
Complaint: "Allowing [a student] to run around the classroom in his underwear or nude."
Complaint: "Using students’ shirts to wipe up water and requiring the students to wear the shirts when the students spilled water."
Complaint: "Removing students’ shirts as punishment."
Complaint: "Force-feeding [a student] left-over food, causing [the student] to gag and cry."
Complaint: "Pushing [a student] into his chair and grabbing him by his hair and shirt collar."
Complaint: "Placing mints in [a student’s] mouth, which [he] did not like, to stop [him] from spitting," and "Shaking a container of mints at [him] when he was misbehaving."
Complaint: "Placing a student’s hand in his mouth to stop him from biting."

In another matter unrelated to the Harmer case, the school board in November approved a $31,506 settlement with parents of a special-education student to compensate them for legal expenses.

http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2009/12/west_shore_school_district_tea.html

Jackie Bennett - Fayetteville, NC

A teacher at J.W. Coon Elementary School has been suspended with pay after being accused of breaking the arm of a 5-year-old student, Cumberland County Schools officials said this morning.

Jackie Bennett, 57, of the 6500 block Pacific Avenue in Fayetteville, is charged with assault inflicting serious bodily injury and child abuse inflicting serious injury, said Debbie Tanna, a Cumberland County Sheriff's Office's spokeswoman.

Bennett is an exceptional children's teacher, said Theresa Perry, schools spokeswoman.

Bennett told investigators he was trying to use a "therapeutic hold" on the girl Tuesday when she was injured, Tanna said.

http://www.fayobserver.com/articles/2010/09/16/1031247

Beatrice Judah - Gardner, KS

A Gardner daycare provider who pleaded "no contest" to child abuse charges as part of a plea agreement received a stunning surprise from a visiting judge, who gave the woman over two-and-a-half years in prison instead of the 30 days and probation she and her attorney's agreed to.

Attorneys for Beatrice Judah, 37, say that they plan to file a motion to appeal the sentence, saying that the judge was out-of-line for ignoring the plea agreement. But the parents of Noah Brewington, who's leg was broken while he was in the care of Judah, say that the tougher sentence should stand.

"We wanted to see some accountability for the lady that hurt our child," said Josh Brewington, Noah's father.

Noah Brewington, now 5, was 11-months-old when she suffered a spiral fracture that doctors believe came from child abuse. Four years later, Judah, the child's daycare provider, pleaded "no contest" to aggravated battery. But instead of the agreed deal of 30-days shock time plus probation, the judge slapped Judah with 32 months in prison.
http://www.fox4kc.com/news/wdaf-story-daycare-abuse-sentencing-judah-091310,0,7649519.story

Pamela Williams - Moundsville, WV

Marshall County teacher Pamela Williams has been charged with two counts of battery following the alleged physical abuse of a special needs child at Sherrard Jr. High School.


If convicted, Williams could spend a year behind bars.

Williams, of Cameron, appeared Thursday in Marshall County Magistrate Court for a pre-trial hearing on two counts of battery. The charges stem from an alleged altercation on Oct. 8 at Sherrard Jr. High School that reportedly involved Williams and an 11-year-old boy who suffers from autism, Down syndrome and other developmental disorders. Williams, who was 57 years old at the time of alleged battery, pleaded innocent to the charges.

Today, Marshall County Prosecutor Jeff Cramer said the situation began in a speech class.

He said the student refused to take his seat and attempted to take off his pants. Cramer said the criminal complaint indicates the boy attempted to kick and bite before he was taken out of the classroom by Williams and aides in the room.

Cramer said the boy was taken to another room where Williams reportedly placed the boy's hand in his mouth. He said it apparently was an attempt to prevent him from biting. That act did not result in charges, according to the prosecutor.

Cramer said the two counts of battery are the result of Williams allegedly smacking the boy's bottom and placing her hand on his forehead and pushing his head into the wall. The smack on the bottom left a handprint, according to the complaint.

http://www.news-register.net/page/content.detail/id/533205.html

Cynthia King, Lazarita Menendez and Ebony Ray - Cleveland, OH

A jury on Tuesday acquitted three former employees of an Ohio treatment center for troubled teens of involuntary manslaughter in the death of a 17-year-old girl who suffocated and choked on her own vomit after being restrained facedown on the floor.


Menendez faced additional charges because she initiated the incident by taking Finley's CD player, which the disruptive 17-year-old used to calm herself, and shoved the girl's hand under her as she lay on the floor, prosecutors said.

The type of restraint prosecutors say the women used was later banned by Gov. Ted Strickland at the recommendation of state agencies that said the technique carries a high risk of serious injury or death.

Ray, of Broadview Heights, and Menendez, of Bedford Heights, were accused of wrestling Finley to the ground on her chest and applying pressure to her back — a technique known as prone restraint — while King watched.
 
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=9789276

Randall Rae - Ashland City, TN

The confrontation with Rae began a month later when Leach refused to leave his room, according to court documents filed by the plaintiff.


Rae pushed Leach into the hallway, threw him to the ground, and began choking him, according to the documents.

The staffer then forced Leach back into his room, where eyewitnesses reported that he slammed Leach's head into a wall and pinned him facedown on the floor for seven minutes. A nurse who entered the room noticed that Leach was not breathing and did not have a pulse, according to the plaintiff's documents. Leach died the next day at a hospital.

http://nospank.net/n-s84.htm

Janice Ricks - Forsyth, GA

A former Monroe County special education teacher is scheduled to turn herself in to the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office following allegations of cruelty to children, officials said.


The sheriff’s office issued an arrest warrant Wednesday for Janice Ricks on two counts of cruelty to children, said Allison Selman-Willis, spokeswoman for the sheriff’s office.

Selman-Willis said investigators are keeping some of the details of the case quiet until it’s turned over to the District Attorney’s Office, but one of the counts involved “thumping” a child.

“Some of the other children had marks on them,” Selman-Willis said.

Ricks, who resigned from her teaching job at T.G. Scott Elementary School a couple of weeks ago, taught special needs children ages 3-5.

Selman-Willis said another employee of the school system noticed the bruising on the children and reported it to the school system, which brought in the sheriff’s office to investigate Jan. 20.
http://www.mymcr.net/articles/2010/02/11/news/doc4b71fb96409ec556350127.txt

Donna M. Thomas - Council Bluffs, IA

A Council Bluffs high school teacher has been jailed on accusations that she put a special needs student in a choke hold.


According to court documents, witnesses said it isn’t the first time the teacher has done it.

Donna M. Thomas, 53, turned herself into police on Tuesday after the Pottawattamie County Attorney filed criminal charges.

According to court documents obtained by KETV NewsWatch 7, Thomas has more than 21 years of teaching experience in Iowa. But in this case, Council Bluffs police said she went too far in restraining a Thomas Jefferson High School student.

The father of the 15-year-old boy, who has autism, reported the incident to police in November after he said he was alerted by a school worker.

According to a court affidavit, the school paraprofessional called the father to tell him she had "witnessed Donna Thomas become overly aggressive with the child."

The paraprofessional said in the affidavit, "There were two or three occasions when I saw her head-lock him … she pinned him. I'm like, what is she doing? I was even in shock."

Another witnesses in the affidavit described the restraint as a choke hold.

Police asked the witness if Thomas was aggravated during the time the alleged incident happened.

"Oh yeah," the witness said, according to the affidavit.

Police asked the witness if Thomas was angry at the same.

"Yeah," the witness replied.
 
http://www.ketv.com/r/22686608/detail.html

Jennifer Phillips - Flagler County, FL

A special needs teacher in Flagler County was arrested, accused of abusing a disabled student. Eyewitnesses said the abuse happened in February in the cafeteria of Bunnell Elementary School and the student had to be taken to a hospital.

Police arrested 37-year-old Jennifer Phillips. She is accused of getting so rough with a 3-year-old special needs student that the child suffered a concussion.


Witnesses said, when the young girl became visibly upset in the school cafeteria, Phillips aggressively forced her to the floor, causing the girl to strike her head on a glass door. Several witnesses told police they heard a loud thump when the child's head hit the door.

http://www.wftv.com/countybycounty/22715680/detail.html

Katheryn Shurley - Waco, TX

An arrest warrant has been issued for a Waco ISD teacher after she allegedly slapped a special needs student in her class.


Police informed Waco ISD that the teacher, Katheryn Shurley, is charged with injury to a child.

Shurley admitted to slapping the child three times in class at Meadowbrook Elementary.

http://www.kxxv.com/Global/story.asp?S=12151444

Cydney Abrams - Winter Springs, FL

The special-education teacher at Winter Springs High school was recorded last March in a 26-minute tirade during her third period math class.


“I've told you, ***** don't bother me, baby,” Abrams said in the recording.

“What the **** you gonna do?” the student asked.

“I don't have to do a **** thing! What the **** are you gonna do?” Abrams asked.

“Anything you say about me, it goes right back to you! So, ‘stupid’ would be you, your friends and your family,” Abrams is heard saying on the recording.

http://www.wftv.com/news/22857147/detail.html

Robert Brito Jr. - Socorro, TX

A former middle school teacher was arrested Monday, accused of slamming a special-needs student's head onto a desk.


Socorro Independent School District police arrested Robert Brito Jr. on a charge of injury to a child after a parent made a report to authorities.

Brito, 53, resigned from his teaching position at Salvador H. Sanchez Middle School in Socorro on Friday before his arrest, said Daniel Escobar, spokesman for the Socorro school district.

According to the document, Brito was upset because a boy was talking and would not let the other children listen to the video. Brito continued to ask the student to be quiet and place his hands on the desk or "he was going to do it for him."


"The victim did not listen and (Brito) stood up, walked towards the victim and grabbed him by the back of his neck. (Brito) in an aggressive manner and with force slammed the victims (sic) head on the student's desk," the affidavit stated.

The document stated at least one witness told police that after the assault, the boy appeared to be scared and in pain and stayed with his hands outstretched on the desk. The document stated there were no visible injuries reported by the boy's parent.


http://www.ktsm.com/news/socorro-teacher-arrested

Susan Nelson and Christina Brocato - Baltimore, MD

Daniel Harris Sr. hopes the second defendant in his son’s assault case doesn’t get off as easy as the first one.


After agreeing with the prosecutor that a surveillance video shows Susan Nelson hitting 13-year-old autistic child Daniel Harris Jr. on a Baltimore County school bus, District Court Judge G. Darrell Russell Jr. ruled “not guilty” after a 10-minute hearing.

“She’s doing her job trying to maintain discipline,” Russell said dismissively in court on March 11, according to transcripts acquired by the AFRO. “It wasn’t a forceful hit. Nobody was injured. She’s got her hands full.”

But police agree with Harris Sr., who said not only was his son assaulted by Nelson on Nov. 20, 2009, but attacked by Christina Brocato, a bus driver with a prior child abuse record. Her trial is scheduled for May 19.

Harris Sr. said his son was strapped into his seat next to Nelson, who was substituting for Harris Jr.’s regular aide, as Brocato drove the bus of special education students on I-695 and Perring Parkway.

“The aide gave my son her [hair] scrunchy,” Harris Sr. said. “He started playing with it because it’s made out of elastic material. He started trying to unravel it and she slapped him and that set him off. He became uncontrollable at that point.”

Lt. Jim Dewees of the Maryland State Police Golden Ring Barrack said it is difficult to determine by surveillance camera how hard Nelson hit Harris Jr., but the tape clearly captures an assault and unnecessary restraint forced upon the teen.

“[Nelson] basically stands up and hits him several times,” DeWees said. “She didn’t stop; she was mad. It looked like the child [fell] to the ground. You can see them scuffling on the floor and you can see him being physically assaulted.”

At that point, Brocato then pulled the bus over. Lori Mazan, operator and safety supervisor of Durham School Services which runs the school bus company, claims that Harris Jr. got out of his harness and ran to the front of the bus, prompting Brocato to pull the bus over.

“As the driver expressed it, [he] ‘had to be disarmed’,” she wrote.

However, DeWees said the encounter went beyond discipline and became child abuse; the tape “clearly shows” Brocato pull the bus over and immediately begins to assault Harris beyond acceptable reproach.

“She gets up and it appears as though she assists in the assault or restraining [of] the child,” Dewees said. “It’s not like she comes and intervenes and tries to make peace with what was going on.”

http://www.afro.com/sections/news/Baltimore/story.htm?storyid=1081

Catherine Littleton and Jeffery Stokes - Indianapolis, IN

A teacher and an aide at Perry Meridian Middle School have been charged with neglect after police said they strapped a student with autism to a chair and left him on the floor.


Veteran teacher Catherine Littleton, 52, and Jeffery Stokes, 27, were charged with battery, criminal confinement and neglect of a dependent in connection with a Feb. 18 incident in a classroom, 6News' Jack Rinehart reported.

According to the probable cause affidavit, Stokes taped socks over the hands of a non-verbal 12-year-old student, strapped the boy's arms to his chest and belted him to a chair. The boy was then tipped over backward in the chair and left on the floor, police said.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2504311/posts

Jennah Christine Billeter - Centreville, VA

A pre-school autism teacher has been suspended pending charges of child cruelty and a lesser charge of child abuse, according to Fairfax County Police.


Police said Jennah Christine Billeter, of Fairfax, physically assaulted and mistreated two boys, ages four and five, who were assigned to her class at Deer Park Elementary School, in the Centreville area.

http://www.wusa9.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=106232&catid=158

Kathleen Yasui-Der - Chapel Hill, NC

Kathleen Yasui-Der was arrested for assault and contributing to the neglect of a minor. Investigators say the charges are tied to events in May, involving a 9-year-old and 12-year-old boy at Frank Porter Graham Elementary School. Police say Yasui-Der bent a student's finger and twisted another student's arm.

http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/112907/

Susan Comerford Wzorek - Clarks Summit, PA

Ms. Wzorek was suspended without pay from her job Tuesday, Dr. Rosetti said, and will be fired if found guilty. She turned herself in earlier in the day at the Lackawanna County Courthouse and was arraigned before District Justice George E. Clark Jr. Arrest papers allege that Ms. Wzorek, a 29-year teaching veteran, stomped on the students' insteps to get their attention, pulled hair, gave a 6-year-old a backhand slap - catching her ring on the girl's lip, bloodying it - and pinched and squeezed kids.


She is also accused of improperly restraining students with duct tape and bungee cords in a specially built chair. The chair, according to arrest papers, was to be used only to help students with spasms or other physical needs - and was not to be used for punishment or to deal with hard-to-control students. The affidavit says Pennsylvania law allows use of the chair only in very limited circumstances, and with the knowledge of the parent and school officials. None of those people knew of the chair's use in this case, the affidavit alleges.

The NEIU investigated Ms. Wzorek after a parent complained to Dr. Rosetti in August 2003 that her son, then 10 years old, suffered a broken arm, hair loss and other injuries while a student of Ms. Wzorek's, according to court papers. Ms. Wzorek was removed from Clarks Summit, Dr. Rosetti said, but continued working with kids - teaching a learning support class at West Scranton High School. Meanwhile, Dr. Rosetti said, supervisors kept an eye on Ms. Wzorek in her new assignment while questioning people who might know about the alleged mistreatment.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/fr/1193860/posts

Karen Miller - Santa Clara, CA

Craig and Ann Gaydos allege that over a period of months in 2001 and 2002, teacher Karen Miller caused physical and emotional injury to their daughter Paige. Paige has Asperger's syndrome, a neurological disorder similar to autism, and was in Miller's special-education classroom at Eisenhower Elementary in Santa Clara.


The alleged abuses range from smearing a burrito in Paige's face and hair, to pushing her on the floor and sitting on her.

Andrea Tytell, a special-education attorney representing the Gaydos family, says that six other Cupertino Union parents have come forward and are willing to testify about other incidents of abuse by Miller. Tytell says that the Cupertino Union school district was complicit, because officials repeatedly backed up Miller when concerns arose and regularly assured the Gaydos family that nothing was wrong.

http://www.aspiesforfreedom.com/archive/index.php/thread-2781.html

Christine Mischenko - Long Hill, NJ

A behavioral therapist was arrested on Thursday and charged with physically and sexually assaulting a 4-year-old autistic boy in his home in Long Hill, N.J., the authorities said yesterday.


A hidden camera installed on Wednesday by the boy's parents showed Christine Mischenko, 23, punching, grabbing and kicking the boy during a therapy session, said Michael M. Rubbinaccio, the Morris County prosecutor.

Ms. Mischenko, who graduated from Rutgers University with a bachelor's degree in psychology, was hired by the boy's parents in January 2003. She was to teach the boy, identified in court papers as B.H., communication and social skills at his home in Morris County for two to six hours per week, Mr. Rubbinaccio said.

"The contents of the videotape are disturbing," Mr. Rubbinaccio said. "The acts committed by this woman are both sadistic and cruel."

According to court documents, Ms. Mischenko admitted, in an interview with the police, to "kicking and punching the victim's head, shaking the victim from the ears, lifting the victim by the hair, squeezing and pulling the victim's genital area and spraying the victim in the face with water from a hypodermic needle."

Ms. Mischenko worked as a behavioral therapist for New Horizons in Autism, a nonprofit agency based in Neptune, N.J., Mr. Rubbinaccio said. Although no state certification is needed to become a behavioral therapist, Ms. Mischenko had been trained to work with children and how to spot abuse and neglect in patients, Mr. Rubbinaccio said.

Prosecutors are looking into Ms. Mischenko's past work history with other patients. A telephone call placed on Saturday to New Horizons in Autism was not answered.

Mr. Rubbinaccio said the boy's parents installed video surveillance equipment after noticing bruises on the boy's ears. "The video has no sound," Mr. Rubbinaccio said, "but you can see that the child was in severe pain." The boy was treated at a local hospital and released, Mr. Rubbinaccio said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/05/nyregion/05therapist.html

Robert Fischetti and Connie Clark - Staten Island, NY

When The Post exposed the taunting incident in February 2006, a DOE spokeswoman called the conduct of Fischetti and bus matron Connie Clark "inhuman" and said they were permanently banned from working with kids.

The shocking verbal abuse of P.J. who cannot speak was captured on a tape recorder that Lisa Rossi hid in his knapsack on Sept. 30, 2005.

That morning, P.J. boarded the bus and soon began banging his head against a seat 80 times over the 90-minute ride and howling in pain.

"Shut up, shut up, shut up, you little dog!" said Clark.

Fischetti said, "Good one!" after P.J. banged his head one time, called him a "phony . . . sack of s- - -" and teasingly offered him cookies and cupcakes.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/regional/item_20oIXEMPgSVY3mV2jNADbJ

Dean Sine - Orafield, PA

The KidsPeace counselor who sat on and suffocated a 12-year-old boy who was acting up in May was charged yesterday with involuntary manslaughter in the child's death.


Dean Sine, 29, of Quakertown was released on recognizance bail after arraignment by District Justice Theodore Russiano.

http://articles.mcall.com/1993-11-17/news/2947324_1_sine-kidspeace-child-s-death

Kathleen Garrett - Sanford, FL

A severely disabled autistic boy had just come into Kathleen Garrett's classroom, and Garrett was right behind him. Without warning, she laid him across the top of his desk, turned his head to the side and leaned down with all her weight, a witness told jurors Tuesday. The boy's eyes bulged and his lips turned purplish-blue, said teacher's aide Sabrina Mort, and with that, Mort decided she had seen enough. She pulled aside a co-worker, and they went to school authorities, accusing Garrett of child abuse.

***

A judge on Tuesday rejected the claims of a former teacher accused of abusing autistic students in her classroom, leaving standing all five criminal counts against her. Kathleen Garrett, 49, is charged with abusing four children and "caging" a fifth -- placing the child in a school closet. Each of those incidents happened at South Seminole Middle School, where she worked from 2000 until November, when she resigned shortly after her arrest. She is accused of slamming one boy's head against his desk so hard that it broke two of his teeth; striking two children; and bending one child's finger backward.

http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/keyword/kathleen-garrett

Timothy Dixon - Corpus Christi, TX

Mentally Disabled Forced Into 'Fight Club' at Texas Home
Former Employees Indicted, Charged With Causing Injury to a Disabled Person


Six former employees were indicted last Thursday on charges of causing injury to a disabled person.

Prosecutors identified the ring leader as Timothy Dixon, 30, who police say can be heard on the video calling the play-by-play of the fight as if he were a ring announcer.

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/Story?id=7556740&page=2

Sherri Jones - Atlanta, GA

"I knew something was really wrong for the first time on September 8th," said Stefan's mother, Carolyn Ferrari. That's when she said Stefan came home with bloody scratches, bruises and ripped shorts. His behavior over the next month deteriorated.

"It was getting worse and worse," Carolyn said. Marcelo and Carolyn Ferrari say they repeatedly told school officials they were concerned. So the mother of a boy without a voice found a way to give him one.

"It's about the size of a quarter," Carolyn said about a microphone she sewed into Stefan's shirt. She sent him to school with it on October 21.

It would be his last day at Marshall.

"As soon as he took his boxers off to get in the shower, I noticed it," said Stefan's father, Marcelo Ferrari. "And I was like, 'oh my God'."

Marcelo was shocked by the severe bruising covering his son's legs. He and his wife went straight to the tape.

http://www.wltx.com/news/story.aspx?storyid=73974&catid=63

Michelle Campbell - New Britain, CT

Attorneys for the families of special-needs students allegedly abused by a city teacher filed a petition Wednesday for a class-action complaint against the teacher and members of the Board of Education on behalf of what they believe may be a large number of victims.

"The number of children who were abused may be in the hundreds," said attorney James Sullivan of Howard, Kohn, Sprague & FitzGerald in Hartford. The complaint was filed in United States District Court, District of Connecticut in Hartford, and names Michelle Campbell, a teacher at Chamberlain Elementary School, for allegedly using unreasonable force, unlawful restraint and physical, psychological and emotional abuse against special-needs students dating back to 1999. Within three other counts in the lawsuit, it alleges civil rights violations, negligent infliction of emotional distress and breach of fiduciary duty, all against Superintendent Doris Kurtz, Chamberlain Principal Jane Perez and the Board of Education of the Consolidated School District of New Britain.

http://autismparents.net/what-are-they-smoking-at-the-new-britain-connecticut-school-district-and-why-is-michelle-campbell-still-teaching/

Trinda Barocas - Indianapolis, IN

The mother of an 8-year-old autistic boy with severe peanut allergies filed a lawsuit that claims his Indianapolis teacher gave her son a peanut-filled candy bar in hopes of making him sick so he wouldn't go a zoo field trip.


Special education teacher Trinda Barocas was accused of telling a classroom aide that the boy would likely misbehave, and "maybe he could be sick enough not to attend and we won't have to deal with it," according to the suit filed by his mother, Anita Young.

The boy didn't eat the candy bar, probably because he does not eat unfamiliar foods and didn't recognize its yellow wrapper, his mother said. The boy, who is mostly nonverbal, gets hives and swelling if he even touches peanuts and could die if he eats them.

"She knew how severe his allergy was," Young said Friday. "To tempt a child with something that could take their life _ honestly, it blows my mind. I think that she should be held accountable for what she's done."

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/10/09/ap/national/main5375471.shtml

Julie Ann Parish and Kristina Marie Kallies - Great Falls, MT

Julie Ann Parish and Kristina Marie Kallies are each charged with one felony count of assault on a minor and one misdemeanor charge of endangering the welfare of children after the Great Falls Police Department investigated the alleged December abuse of student Garrett Schilling, then 13.

The aides are accused of holding Schilling's head under running water after he fell asleep in class, forcing him to sit in his soiled pants for hours and making him eat his own vomit when he got sick at Great Falls' North Middle School.

http://abcnews.go.com/WN/montana-teachers-aides-accused-waterboarding-special-student/story?id=8890208

http://video.aol.com/video-detail/mom-says-school-aide-waterboarded-her-kid/682848810

Diana O'Neill - Sarasota, FL

The lawsuit filed Friday by Debbie and Jimmy Hatfield states O'Neill slapped, pinched, poked and shoved the girl, now 13, when she did not respond to O'Neill's commands, and that O'Neill called her "fat ass" and "a waste of air."

The Hatfields also claim their daughter, who had half of her brain surgically removed as an infant because of extensive damage and cannot walk, talk or see, came home from school with bruises that they attribute to the rough treatment handed out by O'Neill.

O'Neill was arrested in 2008 on charges that she abused her profoundly disabled students; she was acquitted after a trial. She also kept her job with the school district and struck a deal with the state that will allow her back in the classroom.

http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20100829/ARTICLE/8291058/-1/sports?tc=ar

Jennifer Davila - Trumbull, CT

For a 9-year-old autistic girl, hell was riding the school bus every day.

That's when, police say, the 24-year-old bus monitor, Jennifer Davila, would torture the young girl, pinching her, poking her, wrenching the girl's small fingers as they drove along the route from the girl's home to school and back again.

Police said the girl's parents were trying to figure out how their non-verbal daughter kept getting bruises and sprained fingers on her right hand when on May 19 they received a call from the nurse at Frenchtown Elementary School that their daughter had arrived at school that morning crying hysterically. The parents then demanded to see the video from their daughter's school bus.

That video, which also had audio, showed Davila grabbing the girl's hands and the girl then crying out in pain.

http://www.ctpost.com/local/article/Court-case-of-woman-accused-of-hurting-autistic-619181.php

Stacey Strauss - Langhorne, PA

A Pennsylvania counselor was charged with manslaughter Tuesday in the heat death of a 20-year-old autistic man left for hours in a hot van, but her lawyer said many people share in the blame.


Stacey Strauss, 40, of Philadelphia was arraigned on a felony neglect charge and misdemeanor counts of involuntary manslaughter and reckless endangerment. According to court papers, Strauss denied being assigned to care for Bryan Nevins on an outing the day of his death.
Nevins was found dead in the rear seat of a scorching hot van about five hours after a small group returned July 24 to Woods Services, a residential treatment program in suburban Philadelphia. The temperatures that day reached 97 degrees.


Strauss had called a supervisor from a nearby amusement park that morning to say Nevins was causing problems, biting himself and trying to bite another client, the police affidavit states. She was told the group should return home. They returned to the Langhorne campus from Sesame Place at about 12:30 p.m.

Strauss, who was driving the van, told authorities she was only responsible for one client while the other counselor on the trip was responsible for the other three. But her supervisor told police she had assigned Strauss to watch Nevins and a second client.

http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news/local&id=7590269

Loretta Schmetz - Fallon, NV

[Sept,2010] A Fallon teacher's aide will be tried on charges that she abused some of her handicapped students, a judge determined Thursday.

Lorette Schmelz, 47, was bound over on six counts of child abuse by Fallon Justice of the Peace Mike Richards following a preliminary hearing.

“It appears to me the testimony has proven crimes may have taken place,” Richards said.

According to court records, co-workers at the school reported, among other allegations, that between September 2009 and January 2010 Schmelz pinched a child until he screamed; bent a student's finger backward; bent a student's hand to the wrist in a painful manner and twisted students' arms.

Schmelz, who was an instructional aide in a special needs class at Numa Elementary School, has been suspended from her position pending the outcome of the investigation. Several students in Schmelz's class have autism and Down syndrome and lack the ability to speak.

http://www.nevadaappeal.com/article/20100904/NEWS/100909834/1070&ParentProfile=1058

Nadeem Mall and Edwin Tirado - Schenectady, NY

Michael and Lisa Carey placed their autistic son, Jonathan, at Anderson in 2003, but pulled him out in 2004 after growing concerned about his treatment. They later found that workers there had withheld food from Jonathan, and when the father made a surprise visit at one point he found his son naked in his room, covered in bruises and no longer toilet-trained, according to court records.

http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Autism-abuse-case-settled-630534.php

Jessica Collum - Readington, NJ

[March, 2006] Paraprofessionals and school aides failed to report the alleged physical and emotional abuse of special needs children by a teacher at a Hunterdon County school over a two-year period, according to a lawsuit filed by parents of one of the students.


According to the lawsuit, the child was struck, grabbed, pushed, pinched, restrained, assaulted, battered and locked in a bathroom while attending a morning preschool autism class at the Readington School District during the 2004 and 2005 academic years.

The teacher accused of causing the abuse resigned after the problem was eventually reported to the administration of the Three Bridges School, according to the suit.

The suit, filed Tuesday at the Hunterdon County Courthouse in Flemington, does not detail how many children were allegedly abused. The suit claimed paraprofessionals and school aides witnessed the alleged abuse over the two-year period and failed to report it because they had not been trained on how to do so.

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2008/03/lawsuit_readington_school_aide.html

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Wendy Portillo - Port St. Lucie, FL

[May,2008] Florida kindergarten teacher Wendy Portillo was reassigned to an office duty post in the St. Lucie County School District. Her demotion comes after a controversial classroom activity in which Portillo allegedly had the five year old students in her class "vote out" classmate Alex Barton in a Survivor like game.

Barton, age five, was voted out 14-2 as Portillo allowed the children to tell him why they did not like him. Reasons included that he was "annoying" and "disgusting." He was then sent to the nurse's office where he spent the rest of the day. Barton was in the process of being tested for Asperger Syndrome, a disability which can cause difficulties in communication and social interaction skills.

Portillo claims she had the class share how his behavior was affecting other students in the class. She reportedly instructed the class that the vote was just for the day, not forever. She hoped Barton would better respond hearing the information from kids his age, rather than adults.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/05/27/earlyshow/main4130288.shtml

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
[August,2010] Now, in the latest case, a report from the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights found evidence that Portillo and two other teachers discriminated against a girl with a hearing impairment at Allapattah Flats K-8 School in Port St Lucie.


The teachers were supposed to wear a microphone whenever the girl was in their classroom, so she could hear them. But the girl claimed sometimes they did not wear it.

http://www.examiner.com/special-education-in-national/teacher-who-kicked-5-year-old-autistic-out-of-class-now-refused-to-wear-mike-for-deaf-child