'Monster' given 20-year sentence Baby sitter put three children through 18 months

Waterbury Republican-American ^ | June 11, 2005 | Brigitte Ruthman

[Graybeard58]

Title had to be edited because of length. Full title:

'Monster' given 20-year sentence Baby sitter put three children through 18 months of sexual and psychological abuse

[sam_whiskey]

A MALE babysitter?? That's the first red flag right there...

[foreshadowed at waco]

How did 18 months go by with both parents not noticing the cat's bloody paws or their children's bleeding genitals--sounds so bizarre--were the parents into drugs or something?

[bigbob]

What can be said? He needs to be separated from his testicles before the sun sets, and then executed forthwith.

[basil]

I tell ya what--with kids as old as these were, it is hard for me to figure out why the parents didn't have a clue that something this horrendous was going on. There must have been drastic changes in their personalities and behavior.

[FreeManWhoCan]

They should castrate him. I am imagining that crazy kid in Sin City with the glasses...

[TXnMA]

He needs help, Somerstein said, not a jail sentence that will leave him a hardened criminal unable to function in society.

He needs to be removed from this planet -- ASAP.

[DCPatriot]

We need to lock this monster up and lose the key."

A hollow-point .22 slug behind the ear is cheaper and more efficient for all concerned.

[DTogo]

It is now a full time job to be near her troubled children, who depend on her, counselors and a dozen prescribed medications just to get through the day.

Oh, so NOW her kids are her full time job. These clueless idiots didn't notice anything wrong with their kids (or pets) FOR 18 MONTHS??!!

Un-friggin' believable. Throw the parents in jail, too.

[Mamzelle]

Bizarre--the parents, too--they're also the story here.

[Virginia Queen]

Excuse me for seeming obtuse, but I am having a real problem understanding how this could go on for 18 mos and the parents did not notice that something was amiss!! He cut their genitals with glass?? Neither mom nor dad NOTICED injuries? Pinned the cat to the floor - WAS THERE NO BLOOD? Perhaps I was an overprotective mother when mine were growing, but believe me I would have noted a change in attitude, behavior, happiness - even in the pets. THIS SHOULD NEVER HAVE HAPPENED!!!!!!!! Too many parents are too wrapped up in their own lives and careers and making money and lose sight of their true/real responsibility - being attentive, hands-on, involved parents. I know I am stepping on many toes out there, but the truth is the truth.

[Capriole]

I'm not going to do a blame-the-victim thing here, but as a mother I'd like to know how is it that all these horrors took place and neither of the parents noticed a thing for a year and a half. How can a man can cut the genitals of a young child and her mother isn't aware of it? Even a droplet of blood in the panties or a Band-Aid "south of the border" would give a clue. Didn't this mother ever see her children in the bathtub?

And I can't believe the children continued to behave as usual, happy and effervescent as children should be, while all this was going on. I can't believe a man could destroy the internal organs of a pet cat and dog and someone wouldn't notice something. The animals and children must have been in agony, and nobody saw it? What's wrong with these people?

[patton]

I'm with you on that - as hideous as the acts described are, how could they not have know?

And why are the children now so upset that the "can rarely go to school?"

Wouldn't they have been pretty messed up prior to the discovery?

[Xenalyte]

Her children are rarely able to attend school, and often need clinical help just to get through the day.

It is now a full time job to be near her troubled children, who depend on her, counselors and a dozen prescribed medications just to get through the day.

Not just repeated in the same story, but in back-to-back sentences . . . I cannot believe that people get paid for writing this poorly.

[Eva]

It shouldn't have taken 18 months to figure out what was going on.

[Gorzaloon]

He needs help, Somerstein said, not a jail sentence that will leave him a hardened criminal unable to function in society.

Here's some help for the poor misunderstood troubled youth:

[TheOtherOne]

He is a defecive unit that should be immediately returned to maker.

[sam_whiskey]

What's worse though?? The writer or the editor??

[Dustbunny]

Excuse me for seeming obtuse, but I am having a real problem understanding how this could go on for 18 mos and the parents did not notice that something was amiss!! He cut their genitals with glass?? Neither mom nor dad NOTICED injuries? Pinned the cat to the floor - WAS THERE NO BLOOD? Perhaps I was an overprotective mother when mine were growing, but believe me I would have noted a change in attitude, behavior, happiness - even in the pets. THIS SHOULD NEVER HAVE HAPPENED!!!!!!!! Too many parents are too wrapped up in their own lives and careers and making money and lose sight of their true/real responsibility - being attentive, hands-on, involved parents. I know I am stepping on many toes out there, but the truth is the truth.

Ditto to that and then some.