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."
My comment about how he looks was in reply to another comment about "how he looks." The second part of my comment is my opinion after having read the article. How do you think the separation of the family members affected the baby and the other sibling? Not to mention having a father in jail for 6 mos. Apparently the father is innocent.
Yep.
And the sad thing is that most people do not realize that under the U.S.Constitution, you have the right to refuse to let an agent of the state into your home without a search warrant. CPS thrives on that ignorance.
They show up and say "We just want to ask you a few questions..." The freaked out parent (who wants to appear "cooperative") lets them in. Once they are over the threshhold, you have voluntarily conceded to a search and siezure - as far as the courts and police are concerned.
No kidding! Us too. We have pics of our youngest (taken by a professional photographer) of her nekkid and a plastic hair barrette right on top of her little... Cute as heck and embarrasses her (when she was younger. This was in 1979. Also have home movies of her nekkid (she hated wearig clothes) at about 2-3 years old riding her hobby horse.
When I was a kid we used to raspberry my baby brothers tummy all the time. He loved it.
Come and get me coppers!!!
Yes but if you refuse they go to the judge and say that you are hiding something and get an order to remove your children from your home based only on the fact that you would not let them in your home without a warrant. (I've seen it done) Your damned if you do and damned if you don't.
I forgot to mention: MAKE SURE YOU IMMEDIATELY HIRE A LAWYER who specializes in CPS type cases. Don't wait for them to come back with a warrant.
Once they know there's an attorney involved, they watch their behinds to make sure they don't screw up. In fact, they will often drop a case when an attorney is involved in the early stages. There are too many indigent folks out there who cannot aford to hire an attorney that CPS can turn their sights on. If you make it difficult for them to violate your rights, it's easier to concentrate on some poor saps who don't know their rights. However, if you don't have an attorney, they can run roughshod over you, disregarding the Constitution, for the children of course.
That's why I said the investigation phase should've been limited to priors and the context of the other photos from that film. The family didn't even have to know, if the police had just done that logical bit of investigation. As it is, the police certainly did go too far.
Just curious, which state would that be?
The Raleigh PD are pigs.
CVS's market cap stands at 25.14B. These folks deserve a piece of it.
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.