Mom, Roommate Accused of Starving Girl

[warpedskydiver 0]

Mom, Roommate Accused of Starving Girl
Thursday, August 3, 2006 12:35 PM EDT
The Associated Press


ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — A woman and her roommate were charged with starving the woman's 9-year-old daughter, who weighed just 42 pounds when she was found, was locked up all day and was forced to wear a filthy diaper, authorities said.

Melissa Samoraj, 27, and Raymond LaFountain, 31, were arrested Wednesday and charged with aggravated child abuse. The girl was so emaciated that her spine and ribcage were showing when state child welfare officials took her June 30, police said.

The girl also had her hands bound behind her, was locked in a bedroom all day and wore a diaper that went unchanged for hours, officials said. She told police it was punishment for bad behavior.

"It's a very disturbing case," police Detective Joe DeLuca said. "You see very few like this."

The girl now lives with her grandparents and has gained about 25 pounds in a month.

"She's doing well now," DeLuca said.

LaFountain's mother reported the girl's appearance after visiting the home, DeLuca said. It's not clear how long the alleged abuse had been going on, police said.

Samoraj and LaFountain were in a Pinellas County jail Thursday, each held on a $50,000 bond. DeLuca said they did not address the allegations when they were arrested Wednesday, and jail records did not indicate if they had lawyers.

LaFountain was originally described by police as Samoraj's live-in boyfriend, but the gender classification at the jail was changed from male to female following a routine strip search, Pinellas sheriff's spokesman Mac McMullen said.

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These pieces of shit should die ASAP

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[Guest]

Well, so much for that usual homo homily about how much better parents they make.

mh

"The mouse does not know life until it is in the mouth of the cat."

[GTAVercetti 0]

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Well, so much for that usual homo homily about how much better parents they make.

mh

Yes, one case really blows that out of the water.

And for the record, I know of no gay people PERSONALLY, and being where I live, i know quite a few, who have ever said gay people make better parents; they HAVE said that gay parents can be just as good as straight parents.

But you know, way to go with the one post thread drift. A girl is abused this much by PEOPLE and you make it a gay issue. Bravo, sir, bravo.

Why yes, my license number is a palindrome. Thank you for noticing.

[Rebecca 0]

There was another case of that on the radio this morning here in Texas - a mom was arrested after her kids were found starving. She said she didn't have enough money and that none of them had eaten in days...


Frankly, it causes me to question the validity of procreation as a basic human right. Perhaps not in the Texas mom's case, but these folks shouldn't be left in the unsupervised care of themselves much less another human being.

What's the feasibility of basing welfare and state-funded support for parents on the completion of training in life-skills? Do they already have something like that?

you've got to ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel loquacious?' -- well do you, punk?

[warpedskydiver 0]

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There was another case of that on the radio this morning here in Texas - a mom was arrested after her kids were found starving. She said she didn't have enough money and that none of them had eaten in days...


Frankly, it causes me to question the validity of procreation as a basic human right. Perhaps not in the Texas mom's case, but these folks shouldn't be left in the unsupervised care of themselves much less another human being.

What's the feasibility of basing welfare and state-funded support for parents on the completion of training in life-skills? Do they already have something like that?

I do not know but it isn't a bad idea.

I would alos like to point out that it can be a certainty that they would not commit another crime of this nature if we only spent 2 dollars on a couple of bullets.

[wmw999 2,589]

Or if the child were removed, and they were offered free sterilization.

Personally, I think sterilization surgery for both people and animals should be both easy and free. It's not a panacea, but if you make it easy and free, then the really lazy are more likely to do it.

Wendy W.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[Rebecca 0]

You start capping these assholes, you're not gonna stop for a long long time.

Abuse begets abuse begets abuse - you have break the cycle somewhere, and unfortunately, there can be no elegant and easy "final solution" for that to happen.


edit: Though Wendy makes an excellent point...

you've got to ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel loquacious?' -- well do you, punk?

[pirana 0]

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But you know, way to go with the one post thread drift. A girl is abused this much by PEOPLE and you make it a gay issue. Bravo, sir, bravo.

I'll go one better and make it a Deep South thing. Certainly there are similar cases damn near everywhere, and they are all equally despicable; but it seems the overwhelming majority of this stuff occurs in the Deep South. Kids locked in cages, kids locked in cars, kids thrown off bridges, kids falling down wells, and so on and so forth.

IMPORTANT NOTE TO THOSE LIVING BELOW THE MASON-DIXON LINE: Old wells need to be covered with more than just a scrap of rotted plywood. I'll give you 4 to 1 odds that the next baby-down-the-well story comes from there.

Sorry, enough of the Deep South thing.

Yes, these stories bring a tear to my eye. As daddy to 6 and 9 year olds; when I read these I imagine some sweet innocent kid with a typical sweet little kid personality and it just about makes my blood boil. To have trust and innocence destroyed before you even reach double digits in age is a tragedy.

There is no punishment too cruel for these adults. At the least, they should be nuetered and never again trusted with custody of any child. Preferrable would be to put a diaper on them and toss em into some hellhole of a deep dark dank cell for a few weeks. If they survive that, hose them off and throw them into the general population. I'm sure they'd make a lot of friends.

" . . . the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley

[unformed 0]

As much as I hate to say it, as I am from Florida, the world would be a better place if somebody carpet-bombed us.

Everytime I leave I miss the Florida sun, and then within an hour of coming back I realize the level of idiocy that encapsulates this state.

Or maybe its just my backwoods town...

This ad space for sale.

[pirana 0]

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As much as I hate to say it, as I am from Florida, the world would be a better place if somebody carpet-bombed us.

Everytime I leave I miss the Florida sun, and then within an hour of coming back I realize the level of idiocy that encapsulates this state.

Or maybe its just my backwoods town...

So as a Floridian, what's your take? Why is this stuff so much more prevalent down south?

I'm trying not to stereotype, and I honestly do not think all Southerners are evil or stupid; but why is there so much more abuse of children?

Is it a media conspiracy?

is there a cultural difference on the value of children that manifests itself as people (some people) being more willing to abuse them?

" . . . the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley

[unformed 0]

First of all, I don't think that everything is exactly intended. it's just a whole new level of stupidity. you hear people crack jokes about alabama and mississippi. well, florida has the same Deep South culture. It's just we also have a lot of other cultures as well: the snowbirds, the tourists, and the soon-to-be-dead, so people forget about it ... and it's not really noticable unless you live here...

the reason...

i don't know exactly ...

but you can tell ...

people act like they haven't evolved in the past few hundred years



but regardless .... there's so many different cultures here you can't even begin to stereotype it ....

People raised in Satellite Beach, Indialantic, and Grant will have completely different lifestyles ... yet it's all in a twenty-mile radius.

This ad space for sale.

[Rebecca 0]

Let's break this down to where it's really coming from, because it's not the "Deep South". It's everywhere.

It's everywhere because it's tied to socio-economic status and it's prevalent in the Deep South because they've got a higher % of the lowest rung of the socio-economic ladder than most other areas of the country.

Look at the world we live in and consider the value of human life versus the prosperity of that country, state, city, or even neighborhood. Doesn't matter if you live in NYC, Podunk Mississippi, or Beijing.

you've got to ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel loquacious?' -- well do you, punk?

[unformed 0]

I do agree with you .... However, I think that it would be far easier and cheaper to just carpet-bomb the fuckers instead of building schools and teaching them and creating jobs etc etc.

Don't get me wrong. My friends are amon these people and they do have a lot of great ideas, like offroading, clay-shooting, and drinking warm Busch. I still think they're idiots that need to be carpet bombed.

Then again, I think the majority of the world would do good with a proper carpet-bombing.

This ad space for sale.

[wmw999 2,589]

It's not even socio-economic status. In a previous life, I was a child abuse investigator for children up to age 11 (boy that was fun). We were warned repeatedly that we should absolutely NOT take the person's house, appearance, etc. into account, only the story.

There are megalomaniacs and control freaks at many levels in society.

There might be more laziness among those who don't work (seems likely at least), but as soon as you start talking about child abuse and economic status in the same sentence people tend to associate them. Yes, I know that the thread has evolved somewhat, but I'm just not sure the connection is there.

This will now conclude my pedantic rant.

Wendy W.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[Rebecca 0]

That's why I said they are "tied" - not directly causal. There are cruel abusive people all up and down that ladder I was talking about. Money doesn't buy happiness OR parenting skills.

However, once poverty lines are crossed, you tend to also cross educational lines, cultural lines, and general "quality of life" lines that make conditions ripe not just for child abuse, but other violent crimes born out of desperation, misery, and ignorance.


Not saying abuse, violent crime, and all that doesn't happen above those lines as well, just saying there's less "reason" for it when it does.


I'm speaking in very general terms on purpose - there are ALWAYS exceptions to trends or statistics...

you've got to ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel loquacious?' -- well do you, punk?