Posted on 09/23/2005 7:01:57 PM PDT by Graybeard58
In a matter of minutes Thursday, a 27-year-old Lincoln man slipped through Arnold Elementary School’s defenses and stole the innocence of a 5-year-old boy.
On Friday, prosecutors charged Joseph A. Siems Jr. with first-degree sexual assault of a child. Siems, a former student at Arnold, told police he went to the school with the intent of committing the assault, according to court documents.
Siems is diagnosed with bipolar disorder and lives at the Bel-Air Home, an assisted-living center at 2328 A St. He is a convicted felon with a long history of offenses as a juvenile, including sexual assaults of other children, according to his family.
“He’s a really messed up person,” said his mother, Ann Siems of Lincoln. “He should have never been released from the Regional Center and he was. I love the boy very, very much, but I’m just sickened over this situation because I knew sooner or later this would probably happen again.”
Police arrested Siems at the school Thursday afternoon after he pulled down the 5-year-old’s pants in a bathroom storage area and put the boy’s genitals in his mouth, according to court documents. Judge James Foster set Siems’ bond at 10 percent of $150,000 and he remained in custody at the Lancaster County Jail.
The following account comes from police, Marilyn Moore, associate superintendent for instruction at Lincoln Public Schools, and documents filed by prosecutors in Lancaster County Court:
Siems, who does not have a car, rode a city bus to the school at 5300 W. Knight Drive. A secretary saw him come through the front doors. When he didn’t check in at the office, she followed him until he walked into the boys’ bathroom.
The secretary walked to the cafeteria, at the other end of the building, to find the school coordinator, Shannon Mitchell, who was in charge because the principal was at a funeral and the assistant principal was on the playground with students.
Mitchell immediately headed back to the office. On the way, she noticed a few children near the bathroom and water fountains and told them to get back to class.
At the office, she told staff to call 911 and issued a Code Red, which put the building on lockdown. At 1:29 p.m., they called 911.
In the meantime, the intruder stood in one of the stalls in the restroom. The kindergartner entered the bathroom and the intruder spoke to him, convincing the boy to go with him to a small supply storage area inside the restroom where the sexual assault occurred.
No one saw the boy go into the restroom. After the assault, he returned to his classroom, where he told his teacher something had happened.
“It was truly a matter of minutes before the school was in a lockdown,’’ but within those few minutes the boy was assaulted, Moore said.
After calling 911, Mitchell and the assistant principal stood outside the bathroom and tried to talk with the man, who didn’t say much. They could see there were no children inside the bathroom.
The intruder then walked out of the school. The assistant principal and a custodian followed him and talked him into returning.
The first officer arrived at the school at about 1:39 p.m. As the child reluctantly disclosed more details, additional officers and investigators came to the school.
An investigator trained in helping children victimized by sexual assault interviewed the boy and a doctor examined him, police officer Katherine Finnell said. He apparently did not suffer additional injuries and required no hospital treatment.
The school remained locked down until police left about an hour later.
“I think everybody followed the procedures as carefully and closely as they could,’’ Moore said.
Siems has no past criminal record of sexual assault as an adult, said Assistant Police Chief John Becker. Neither he nor other law enforcement officials would comment on whether Siems had a juvenile record of sexual assaults.
His mother, however, said Siems committed sexual assaults on young boys several times in the early 1990s. Ann Siems said her son was in and out of the state mental health system for those offenses and other behavioral issues.
Dr. Richard Dyer, clinic director for the Lincoln Regional Center, said confidentiality laws prevent him from discussing Siems’ medical history. He did say, however, Siems was not presently under a treatment commitment at the center.
In general, he said the law requires the regional center to seek the least-restrictive treatment for patients with mental illness. While medical staff try to protect the public from possibly violent patients, they also work to transfer patients to community settings as soon as their conditions allow.
“You’re balancing patient rights, patient freedom with public safety,” he said. “You’ve got court decisions going both ways and it’s a delicate line to walk.”
Thursday’s incident marked the second violent act against a child committed by a group home resident in the past 18 months. In April 2004, a resident of a group home on Coddington Avenue dragged a boy from a bike and stabbed him with a knife.
In November, a judge dismissed felony charges against Roger Einspahr, who is developmentally disabled, because he was incompetent to stand trial. He was committed to the state’s mental health system for supervised treatment.
Legislative changes prompted by the stabbing affected people with developmental disabilities but not those with mental illness who live in assisted-living centers, Dyer said. That’s because once the regional center discharges a person with mental illness, that person is no longer under the state’s control or custody.
And they try not to release someone who represents a threat, Dyer said.
“Predicting dangerousness is an inexact science,” he said. “What you have to go on is history. Does that mean they should be locked up forever? Can you justify that morally? Can you justify that economically?”
Pathetic.
Sad.
May he never be free again.
Hang the SOB.....but since it's Lincoln, some bleeding heart slug will find a way to justify what Seims did to that boy. But I still say string him up to a cottonwood.
The key word here is "economically." But I suspect this is a short-term consideration. The long-term costs of letting crazy people roam free are probably greater. And it hardly serves the interest of those who live such degraded lives to put them out on the streets to fend for themselves.
Dead people don't assault children. Period.
There is a simple cure. A one time injection of lead behind the ear, and he'll be permanently cured.
At the point he both admitted to the assault and admitted to having gone there with that intent he should have been hauled before a judge and 12 bystanders duly sworn as a jury convicted and then hanged before the sun set.
That was what the founders had in mind not what will result in him being paroled in short order.
Maybe I missed it but is this Lincoln NE, Lincoln MA, or where?
Yeah...some humans are not capable of ever behaving with others to any degree of safety for the vulnerable. Locking them up is the only solution we have and this guy should be. And never allowed an exit otherwise, as with all who make sexual contact with children.
On the other hand, this guy's story does emphasise the point that sexual assault of children is, quite literally, "crazy" behavior. Unfortunately, the guy's diagnosis ("bipolar disorder") is about as common from many pscyhologists as can be.
Ping? Pederast alert.
NE. You can usually find the state in the key words above the first post.
"You’re balancing patient rights, patient freedom with public safety" -- no you don't actually need to balance that. So it's what?? fair??? 50-50, a little to each one? NO YOU DON"T.
(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)
Or one can find it when the poster has the courtesy to include it with the message.
It has nothing to do with "courtesy" There's a place to check for what state it's in when posting, I use it. Not my fault if you won't use the common sense it takes to read "topics"
Another 'aren't you glad you homeschool?' ping.
It says quite clearly, U.S:Nebraska.
Vile, hateful, ugly, ugly man. May he never see the light of day again. I DO NOT care a TICK about him. Not one iota of sympathy for him and whatever disease they say he has. My sympathies and thoughts and prayers go to the little boy. I hope he will be OK. This kind of scum needs to be put away forever along with the person responsible for letting him go free!!!! Let them be damned!!!!
Extreme Yuck factor. Will ping it out when I have the stomach for it, later.
Cries out for the death penalty.
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