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 20 month old LOVES to run around naked. I took pictures of her on the big wheel bike that has a noise button that sounds like a real motorcycle. What a hilarious picture. I sent it to my best friend, but told her, you have to be careful these days with naked little kids, everyone over-reacts, so don't show it to anyone else.
Every little kid I've ever seen loves that! My whole family would have been locked up too. Sad.
I wonder if his record was completely expunged, or if he has to register as a sex offender now.
This is the great Houston parking lot raid on a lesser scale. No one wanted to take the hit for that idiotic stunt either. For the police this is full blown cover your ass time even if a guy does set in the cooler for six months.
This is just another case of "what is good will become evil, what is evil, will become good."
A man doing raspberries on his baby's tummy, bad bad bad.
A woman breastfeeding her baby in public, bad bad bad.
Boys baseball team sponsored by Hooter's, good good good.
Pornography available to anyone with a computer, good good good.
Same here.
Basically. I'm glad I wasn't the person who came across that picture.
False cause
How about: "I hate intrusive busybody governments!"
This is just plain knutz.
So... I could have gone to jail for doing a raspberry on my kid's bellybutton when he was a baby? Have you ever SEEN how a baby laffs when you do this?
Message to Law Enforcement: Get a life of your own stay out of mine!
Correct, Eckerd stores are all over here in NY. They are a subsidiary of JC Penney Corp.
Oh your descriptions bring back memories of my teenagers. Fat baby laugh. I am smiling with tears in my eyes at the memories.
You forgot gay Goy Scout leaders good good good.
I'm barfing as I type that.
If you want to meet up with some folks who really have their head up their a**, go to Raleigh, North Carolina and say hello to any city or state official. They are so damned cocksure of their stupidity they reek havoc on the folks who live there. They hate business, love welfare and freebies from the feds, but can't put up street signs or highway directions to save their proverbial butts! What a collective bunch of backwards yahoos.Problem is, the dumba**es think they are smart! This is where Kerry's "running mate" Edwards lives. Sound familiar?
{5 months more in jail for kicking his ass all over town would be worth it.}
Amen, brother. Ain't nothing like a good old-fashion country ass-whuppin!
LOL Kalee's typing BAD BAD BAD lol
But a very brave one! :-P
A Filipino lady I worked with mentioned to me once that her mother, overcome with joy at having a grandson, kissed his testicles; I made the appropriate "eeeeew" noises and she spent the next few days explaining to me that it was a cultural thing, perfectly normal. I dunno...
Check the link. Looked fine--this is scary and over the top.
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