Mother denies son medical attention

A Las Vegas woman is accused of killing her son by denying him medical treatment for a chronic kidney disease. Metro police told FOX5 Lena Marie Anderson was charged with murder and child abuse and neglect following the death of 15-year-old Patrick Atkins, who died Feb. 6 after being brought to University Medical Center with a bloody nose.

Police said Anderson told them her son had been sick for three weeks and, despite being treated with antibiotics, Atkins was not fully recovering. The antibiotics were prescribed by a doctor at Southwest Medical Center, but police said Anderson never told them about her son’s condition. Atkins underwent Urethal Valve surgery when he was a boy, and his mother had been treating him with medication and catheterization several times a day. Police said when the boy was 12, Anderson refused to take him back to the doctor, thinking the condition would change on its own. She also told police she discontinued Atkins' medication because he didn't like it and she was tired of “fighting her son.”

Detectives interviewed doctors and a nurse who had treated Atkins. All of them said they had warned Anderson about continued treatment for her son.

4-year-old overdoses

Beloit police said that a 4-year-old boy who they believe came in contact with cocaine over the weekend is recovering from an overdose and will be released from a Milwaukee hospital soon. Police said that when the child is released, he will be in the custody of Rock County Child Protective Services as the investigation continues, along with his sibling -- despite a hearing on Tuesday in which the family was trying to regain custody.

Capt. William Tyler, of the Beloit Police Department, said police were notified by a local hospital Saturday, when the child was brought in unconscious and preliminary tests showed cocaine in his blood. An aunt of the child contacted WISC-TV and said it was a pain killer, not cocaine, but police said, either way, something happened that shouldn't have. "Whether that's child abuse or child neglect or something else, we're not quite sure yet," Tyler said. "But we know that clearly there was a breakdown somewhere in which this child got a hold of something he shouldn't have, and all indications were it was the cocaine that caused this condition."

Mom charged in childs death

An adoptive mother has been charged with murdering her 9-year-old quadriplegic daughter, prosecutors in Michigan said Friday. Lorrie Thomas was charged with second-degree murder and child abuse in the death of Shylea Myza Thomas, said John Potbury, an assistant prosecutor with the Genesee County Prosecutor's Office in Flint, Michigan. Thomas is also charged with tampering with evidence. Thomas, who is the girl's biological aunt, made no immediate public statement.

Police found the girl's body this week, stuffed inside a garbage bag in a public storage facility in Vienna Township, near Flint, said Genesee County prosecutor David Leyton. The bag was covered in mothballs "in an apparent attempt to mask odors from the dead body," Leyton's office said in a news release.

Shylea had not been seen in six weeks, but relatives did not report her missing until Tuesday, Leyton's office said. Because of her physical disabilities, Shylea had to use a feeding tube. She suffered from quadriplegia because of a "suffocation issue" in her crib at 3 weeks of age, Leyton said. Leyton said Shylea and other relatives had lived in "absolutely filthy" conditions. Relatives told CNN affiliate WJRT that they remember Shylea as a happy child who loved music and had an infectious smile.

5 year old returns home with a bag of poo

5-year-old student at Apple Valley Elementary in Yakima headed home on the bus with more than books in his backpack. Inside was a smelly package his father never imagined he'd be toting around. Jason says his son's kindergarten teacher had bagged up a piece of human feces and stuck it in his son's backpack. His wife found the stinky mess. "She found a clear plastic bag with a piece of fecal matter wrapped up in a brown paper towel with the note on it," he said. The note read, "This little turd was on the floor in my room."

Jason says his son's teacher, Mrs. Graham, called last Friday and said her classroom was "stinky." She asked if the boy could have had an accident. Jason acknowledged the possibility, as his son had had a couple of accidents in the classroom in the past. He told Mrs. Graham there were extra clothes in his backpack.

After his wife found the bagged mess, Jason e-mailed school officials. Days later, he received a response apologizing for the delay in dealing with the issue. On Tuesday, he was still waiting for a chance to speak to school officials about the incident. The school's superintendent said the boy's teacher and the school principal are being questioned. School officials said they'll meet with Jason and his wife next week. In the meantime, Jason wants his son placed in a different teacher's classroom for the remainder of the school year.

Child takes own life after being bullied

Jaheem Herrera, 11, hanged himself after coming home from school on April 16. Masika Bermudez said her son was being consistently bullied at school. She said she had complained to the school, and she said it was her 10-year-old daughter who alerted her to the stress Jaheem was under.

Bermudez said bullies at school had called Jaheem “gay” and had taunted him about his accent. She said when he came home Thursday and she asked him about it, he denied it. She sent him to his room to calm down. That was the last time she saw him alive.

Channel 2 Action News reporter Pam Martin talked with some students at Dunaire Elementary who said they knew Jaheem. They confirmed the bullying. “That’s my baby’s life there because of this bullying situation they didn’t take care of,” said Bermudez.

Channel 2 Action News called the school for comment, but that call was not returned. DeKalb County Schools said they could not speak about any particular case.

Why talk about things if you don't know anything about it

I do not understand why people talk about things that they do not know anything about. A friend of my family was killed in a car accident a few days ago, and there are so many stories going around about what happened. If you do not know what happen, then do not say anything at all. Another thing, if you do not have anything nice to say about it, then please do not say anything at all. Friends and family members read what you say. How would you feel if someone was saying that about one of your friends or family memebers. SO PLEASE WATCH WHAT YOU SAY.

Teen Text-N-Drive Ban

A new Mississippi Law (starting July 1) will ban anyone with an intermediate license or learner’s permit from sending text messages while driving. Anyone caught texting while driving could face a misdemeanor charge and a fine of up to $500. If there's an accident, the fine would be up to $1,000.

The law — signed this past week by Gov. Haley Barbour — also will add six months to the minimum age for teenagers to get their driver’s licenses. The intermediate license, allowing some unsupervised driving, will become available at 16. An unrestricted license can be obtained six months later.

Sunday School Teacher Arrested In Girls Murder

Relatives of slain California 8-year-old Sandra Cantu expressed "shock" Saturday at news that a neighbor -- a Sunday school teacher whose daughter was a playmate of Sandra's -- was arrested in the girl's death. The girl's body was found Monday, stuffed into a suitcase submerged in a pond at a dairy farm.

Melissa Huckaby, 28, was booked into the San Joaquin County Jail early Saturday and faces charges of kidnapping and murder in the death of Sandra in Tracy, California. Sandra was last seen March 27 in the Tracy mobile home park where she lived with her family -- the same mobile home park where Huckaby lives.

"There's been a lot of speculation on the news about what happened to my suitcase," she told the newspaper. "It's not my granddad's. It's mine, and someone took it." Police noted "inconsistencies" between comments Huckaby made to the newspaper and a previous statement she gave authorities, Sheneman said. It was one reason police asked her Friday to come to the station to be interviewed again. She drove there about 6 p.m. Friday, he said.

How Sandra died has not been made public. An autopsy was conducted earlier in the week, but CNN affiliate KRON-TV said results are not expected for weeks. Thiessen said Saturday any autopsy information as well as search warrants filed in the case remain under seal.

A high school senior is dead, and her 17-year-old friend is accused of first-degree murder. The death of 18-year-old Kaitlyn Finnegan on Saturday night is leaving investigators with more questions than answers. Officers learned of the shooting shortly after 7 p.m. when Finnegan showed up at St. Francis Hospital with a gunshot wound to the chest, Sgt. Mark Watson said. She later died about 7:45 p.m.

Police interviewed Theo Fleming, one of Finnegan's friends who took her to the hospital, according to his arrest report. He said Finnegan had been walking a dog in the neighborhood when she was shot in a drive-by. When that didn't check out, Fleming admitted to shooting Finnegan on accident inside a home at 5837 S. 94th East Place, the arrest report states.

Witnesses said Fleming had a black semi-automatic pistol in the front of his shorts and that he and Finnegan were in the living room when a shot was fired. As the group loaded the victim into Fleming's vehicle to take her to the hospital, witnesses said Fleming told them he shot her.
Police recovered one spent .22-caliber shell casing inside the home. A black .22-caliber pistol was also recovered from inside Finnegan's vehicle, which was driven to the hospital by a witness.
Fleming, a sophomore at Jenks High School, was booked into the Tulsa jail about 12:45 a.m. Sunday.

Shooting massacre in a Binghamton, New York

A receptionist with a gunshot wound in her stomach played dead under her desk and called 911 on Friday after a shooting massacre in a Binghamton, New York, immigration center. It is unclear how much time passed from the moment the woman and her colleague were shot until she placed the 911 call, police said. But by the time law enforcement arrived at the American Civic Association, about two minutes after the 10:31 a.m. call to 911, the shootings had ceased and 14 people were dead in the center, including the suspected gunman, law enforcement officials said.

He went by the name "Vaughn," which is what co-workers called him, she said. "He was quiet -- not a violent person," said Guy, who now lives in Wellington, Colorado. "I can't believe he would do something like this.Police are still investigating motives but said the use of a car to block the back door of the building suggested premeditation. The shooter, who was carrying a satchel of ammunition, was found dead of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot to the head, Zikuski said.

In all, law enforcement removed 14 bodies from the building and 37 survivors, Zikuski said.

Complaints of Internet-based crimes

Complaints of Internet-related crimes soared 33 percent last year, countering two years of consecutive declines, according to a report released Monday by the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3). The IC3 Web site received 275,284 complaints last year, up from 206,884 the previous year. The organization referred 72,940 of those 2008 complaints to federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies. Referred complaints, which ranged from online auction fraud to identity theft to non-delivery of goods purchased online, cost consumers about $264.6 million last year, with the median dollar loss reaching $931 per complaint, according to the report. In 2007, the losses were less: $239.1 million.

Missing girl in California

Police continued Thursday to sift through more than 500 tips in an effort to find an 8-year-old Tracy girl missing since Friday afternoon. The child was last seen at the Orchard Estates Mobile Home Park, located just off West Clover Road. Sandra Cantu is 4 feet tall, 45 pounds and has brown hair and brown eyes. Cantu was wearing a pink Hello Kitty T-shirt and black leggings.

Anyone with information should call the Tracy Police Department at 209-831-4550.