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Cary teacher facing sex charge dies

2-25-2011 California:

CARY (WTVD) -- A teaching assistant at East Cary Middle School that was facing sex charges has died in a car crash.

In January, police charged 62-year-old Mark Jay Fox of Cary with indecent liberties with a minor.

Authorities said at the time that they had reason to believe Fox "inappropriately touched" a girl on more than one occasion.

On Monday afternoon, the California Highway Patrol reported that Fox was the driver in a 2006 Jeep Cherokee that crossed over the double yellow lines on Ortega Hwy (SR-74), then veered off the roadway and down a steep embankment.

Fox was ejected from the vehicle and found 600 feet over the side. No one else was in the vehicle.

The cause of the accident is still under investigation. Officials have not ruled whether it was an accident, suicide or anything else at this point.

Fox had worked at East Cary Middle School since the fall of 2009. According to the school's website he was an in-school suspension teacher.

Police had said the victim did not attend East Cary Middle, but warrants reveal the inappropriate touching happened when the child was placed in a teacher assistant-student relationship with Fox.

They said the crimes took place over the course of several months in a residential setting and that one of the child's parents notified authorities.

Fox had been placed on a $100,000 bond. ..Source.. by ABC News

Jailed Kennewick firefighter dies after hanging

1-28-2011 Washington:


RICHLAND — A Kennewick firefighter who hanged himself in jail last week died Thursday morning, officials said.

Ryan Gladstone, 34, had been at Kadlec Regional Medical Center in Richland since Jan. 18, after he was found hanging by bedsheets inside his cell at the Franklin County jail.

Benton County Coroner John Hansens said that he received a call about 9:30 a.m. from hospital staff, who said Gladstone had died.

An autopsy is being scheduled.

Gladstone joined the Kennewick Fire Department in 2007, and was a good employee and excellent firefighter, said Fire Chief Neil Hines.

"The situation involving Ryan is regrettable and tragic," Hines said Thursday. "Kennewick firefighters have been and will continue to provide support to his family and friends over this difficult period of time."

Gladstone had been accused of sexually assaulting a young girl and had been in the Franklin County jail since Jan. 13.

He was being held in a single-occupancy cell in protective custody in Franklin County because he previously worked as a corrections officer in the Benton County jail.

He was found in his cell by corrections officers on a normal rounds check.

Franklin County Sheriff Richard Lathim said they have reviewed the incident and found that Gladstone had not shown any indications that he was suicidal.

He was in a cell off the master control area -- which likely is where he would have been put if they thought he might attempt suicide -- that officers pass by on a regular basis to get to other areas of the jail, Lathim said.

Gladstone also was being checked on during regular rounds and had been interacting without any issues with staff earlier that day when he was taken to Benton County for a court hearing.

Lathim said jail staff see suicide attempts maybe two or three times a year, but there has been just one other time when the inmate died.

"A lot of times they don't intentionally do a good job," Lathim said. "Sometimes the motive is for attention, sometimes it's to get to the hospital so they can escape."

On Jan. 19, Gladstone was charged in Benton County Superior Court with first-degree child molestation.

He was accused of being under the influence of spice, a synthetic cannabis, when he allegedly molested the girl earlier this month.

Gladstone was put on leave from his job after his arrest. He and his wife, Lindsy, were going through a divorce, and she obtained a one-year protection order against him Jan. 18.

Lindsy Gladstone's co-workers at ConAgra Foods have established a donation account for her and her children.

Donations can be made at any HAPO Credit Union branch to the Gladstone Family Donation Account. ..Source.. by Paula Horton

Pediatrician Facing Claims of Sex Abuse Dies at Home

2-19-2011 North Carolina:

Dr. Melvin D. Levine, 71, a pediatrician and a leader in the field of learning disabilities, died in North Carolina a day after a sexual abuse and malpractice suit was filed against him in Boston.

The North Carolina medical examiner’s office confirmed that Dr. Levine’s death at his home in Rougemont, N.C., had been reported by the Orange County Sheriff’s Office on Friday, but it said that there would be no statement this weekend on the cause of death. Dr. Levine’s lawyer, Edward Mahoney, said he did not have details on the cause or timing of the death.

“This entire episode is a tragedy,” Mr. Mahoney said. “Throughout it, Dr. Levine never wavered that his care and treatment of all children was appropriate in all respects, and he steadfastly denied the allegations against him.”

Dr. Levine was a leading advocate for children with learning disabilities, whose fame spread through his books, including “A Mind at a Time”; his PBS series, “Misunderstood Minds”; national lectures; and an appearance on “The Oprah Winfrey Show.”

With Charles Schwab, he founded a nonprofit group, All Kinds of Minds, that has trained thousands of teachers nationwide. Dr. Levine’s approach emphasized that whatever their learning disabilities — or learning differences, as he called them — all children had strengths they could build on as well.

While Dr. Levine had been dogged by complaints of sexual abuse of patients for years, none were proved or widely publicized.

So it came as a shock in medical and education circles three years ago when a Boston lawyer, Carmen L. Durso, filed a lawsuit accusing Dr. Levine of sexually abusing five former patients when they were boys. Mr. Durso held a news conference at his office on Thursday to announce a new medical malpractice and sexual abuse suit against Dr. Levine, charging him with abusing 40 patients, all boys, while he was a doctor at Children’s Hospital Boston, from 1966 to 1985.

The lawsuit, filed in Suffolk Superior Court in Massachusetts, claimed that Dr. Levine had “stroked, massaged and manipulated the genitals of his patients in a manner which was not medically necessary.” It sought certification as a class action, on behalf of an estimated 5,000 boys whom Dr. Levine treated while at the hospital.

Mr. Durso said Saturday that he would make no statement this weekend, out of respect for Dr. Levine’s family.

Dr. Levine was never convicted of any abuse charge, and he never faced criminal charges.

There were, however, accusations against him in North Carolina as well as Massachusetts. In March 2009, as the North Carolina medical board was investigating such charges, Dr. Levine agreed that he would never again practice medicine.

Dr. Levine, a Rhodes scholar, was chief of ambulatory pediatrics at Children’s Hospital Boston before moving to the University of North Carolina. He is survived by his wife, Bambi. ..Source.. by Tamar Lewin

Sheriff's office reports inmate suicide at jail

2-18-2011 Iowa:

A man awaiting sentencing on a sex abuse charge hanged himself in his jail cell with a sheet, officials with the Story County Sheriff’s Office said today.

Mark Ronald Dubendorf, 63, of 72999 340th St., Collins, reportedly was found hanging from a sheet tied around his neck at around 8:17 a.m. by jail staff.

Dubendorf reportedly had used the closure hardware of his door to attach the sheet.

According to a release from the sheriff’s office, Dubendorf was unresponsive when he was found. He was extricated from the sheet and jailers performed CPR on him before first responders arrived. Efforts to revive him were unsuccessful, and he was pronounced dead at 9:27 a.m.

Sheriff Paul Fitzgerald said foul play is not suspected. However, the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation was called in to assist with the investigation.

Fitzgerald said it’s unknown how long Dubendorf had been hanging by the sheet. He did not have a cellmate. A detention officer checked Dubendorf’s cell at 7:12 a.m. and did not see anything. While the cell door is not transparent, there is a window into the cell and the guard would have seen Dubendorf.

Dubendorf had given no previous indication he was suicidal, Fitzgerald said.

“We have procedures in place for any individual with mental health issues or who expresses suicidal thoughts,” Fitzgerald said. “This individual had none of that. This is a person for who we didn’t expect this at all.”

Dubendorf had been charged with a total of 15 counts of sexual abuse for incidents that took place between August 2004 and June 2010. He pleaded guilty in January to a single class C felony charge. According to court documents, Dubendorf had repeatedly abused a female younger than 12 years old for several years.

A sentencing hearing in the case had been set for Monday, Feb. 28.

Fitzgerald said that in his 18 years as sheriff, there have been no other suicides in the jail. ..Source.. by Luke Jennett

Man kills girlfriend, self

2-14-2011 Indiana:
Folks may remember the recent British report which shows a link between, people involved with the criminal justice system and suicide. Well here is an example of such a case, and where there is also a "Other Death," the innocent girlfriend of the person accused of a sex offense.

Posted in Related Deaths.
2-14-2011 Indiana:

Local man was facing felony child molestation charges

CHESTERFIELD, Ind. — A local man who shot his girlfriend before killing himself at her Chesterfield home Sunday morning was facing charges for child molestation, police said Sunday.

At 6:39 a.m. Sunday, police responded to reports of a shooting at 419 Vassbinder Drive in Chesterfield.

Inside the home, police found the body of 36-year-old Aaron L. Wagers, who had been living at the location with his girlfriend, Megan Rider, 25.