Posted on 07/27/2005 4:11:22 PM PDT by WaveMan
The ordeal is finally over, but for the past year, a North Carolina family has been torn apart after state officials claimed family photos of a father kissing his baby's belly button were some kind of child abuse.
It began when Teresa Hamaty took impromptu party snapshots of her husband, Charbel, playfully embracing their naked, newborn son, Kristoff.
After dropping the film off at an Eckerd store in North Raleigh, authorities were notified.
"You see the back of the baby, and like if someone is kissing the baby's belly button," Teresa told WRAL-TV.
But police saw the worst and arrested Teresa for taking sexually explicit photos, charged her husband with felony sexual assault, and put Kristoff and his half-sister in protective custody.
"It was a nightmare," Charbel said, after spending half a year in jail.
Teresa took months fighting to gain back custody of her children.
"I think this was one of those times that they got the wrong people," Teresa said. "They were too quick to judge when they took one look at my husband."
Dozens of Hamaty supporters showed up for court appearances, claiming police overreacted. They raised some $140,000 in legal and living expenses for the Hamatys.
"[It] makes me feel, that's it – that's why I have to be strong for – to show everybody what the truth is," Charbel told the station.
The charges eventually were dropped when a report submitted by an expert said there was no criminal intent in the pictures.
"I hate cameras," Charbel now says. "I don't like taking pictures."
Correct, Eckerd stores are all over here in NY. They are a subsidiary of JC Penney Corp.
http://www.investorguide.com/cgi-bin/stockarchives.cgi?date=110404
CVS Corporation, a leader in the retail drugstore industry, reported lower third quarter profits, saying the acquisition of rival Eckerd’s stores and mail order pharmacy business were to blame. On July 31, 2004, CVS Corp. acquired 1,268 Eckerd drugstores, as well as Eckerd's pharmacy benefit management and mail order pharmacy business. The company’s earnings were still able to beat most Wall Street estimates. The company reported Thursday it earned $184.6 million, or 44 cents per share, for the period ended Oct. 2, down from $187.8 million, or 46 cents per share, a year ago.
http://catablast.blogspot.com/2005/06/who-are-50-best-analysts-on-wall.html
Feinberg and Jones have seven sites, each about 13,000 square feet in size, listed for lease that were developed to be Eckerd stores. The company's expansion plans came to a halt in 2004 when J.C. Penney Co. Inc. (NYSE: JCP - News) sold the chain.
CVS Corp. (NYSE: CVS - News), based in Rhode Island, and Jean Coutu Group (TSX: PJC.A - News), Canada's second-largest drugstore chain, each bought about half of the chain. However, the deal did not include the eight Eckerd locations in Albuquerque, some of which were just days from opening....
Jones and Feinberg declined to say who the tenants will be for the empty stores until the deals are finalized
This is WAY over the top...or really scraping bottom, depending on your point of view.
How about exercising a little common sense....you know, that thing that used to be a virtue, back before being virtuous was politically incorrect.
It isn't the police who have this power to throw people into jail. It is DSS, or CPS, or whatever they call it in your state. It is the greatest abuse of government power we have now - even greater in prominence than the "eminent domain" cases that get quite a bit of press.
Yeah, especially when it is the same world that does its d*mndest to strip away the innocence of children at the earliest available opportunity. It is perfectly okay for kindergarten teachers to expose them to the queer agenda and okay for them to be targeted with sexually explicit marketing schemes and that sexual behavior is none of their parents' business. It's okay to shove its atheistic worldview down their throats and give them a way to avoid accountability for their own actions, but for God's sake...don't kiss their belly buttons because that would be exploiting them. Next it will be reports because a cross or a Bible was spotted in a picture.
ping
Nah, something else happened too. If you read the article from when he was first arrested, it says he was bailed with an ankle device. He wasn't in the lockup. Apparently, for some reason, the powers that be decided the guy who worked four jobs to support his family had to go back in the klink sometime after his initial release.
And no way to know it wasn't.
Child Protective Services has no ability to throw anyone in jail. In fact, it is a constant source of frustration for workers that many serious (with plenty of supporting evidence) sex offenders get away with it repepatedly because there is no will to prosecute them if there is no guaranteed win. And this seems to be the norm in many states.
This is insanity! Has the world gone totally mad?
Erring on the side of caution is best for the baby, so the photo clerk did the right thing, but the investigation phase should've only taken the time to check for priors and to compare the other photos on that roll to the suspicious one.
Is this the state that has the signs that say "vehicles in right-turn only lane must turn right?"
I don't know skr.
I have seen/read far too many horror tales about CPS to trust their judgment. There must be a happy medium, but I don't know what it is. I suppose the real problem is a combination of the failure of common sense, and the corruption of power. Some of these people get far too enthusiastic in their enforcement of these laws.
You are correct. They need to tell the locals everything so they will understand.
There's got to be dozens of Eckard stores in Pennsylvania, including new construction. We also have a few CVS here and there.
Only one problem. There are no more Eckard stores, they are CVS now.
***
Not where I live...they are still Eckerd...well, at least for the moment. :)
Is this the state that has the signs that say "vehicles in right-turn only lane must turn right?"
***
You laugh, but I have seen signs like that in my state too. Everything nowadays has to be made idiot proof...otherwise, lawsuits!
This story THOROUGHLY pissed me off!
They put this couple through hell and yet will return kids to known abusers again and again.
I hope he SUES Eckerd, the employee, the police, and anyone who even looks at him sideways.
Who among us has never given a "belly zurbit" to a baby?
Their squeal of laughter is just such a delight!
I hope this family can put their lives back together after this awful experience!
That "fat baby" sound they make is just musical, isn't it?
This news story has really touched a nerve with me and I don't even have kids!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.