DCF's failure to follow-up results in another dead kid.

[Rotten Apple]

This is becoming all too common. Everyone did what they were supposed to as far as I can tell, except for DCF. At least this time, they are taking the blame outright.


SOUTHWEST, Fla -- The Department of Children and Families is taking the blame for the abuse case of Joshua Jenkins. A 6-year-old boy who police say died of child abuse on Monday. His stepfather, Phillipe Gayle is now facing murder charges.

http://www.winknews.com/news/local/15819027.html

[ells9824]

Florida, where we let parents kill good kids,and arrest the parents of bad kids.

[impqueen]

I actually got some email on this yesterday and was gonna put it on the front page. And i have a pretty strong stomach, and can usually suck it up and post whatever - but this one, i couldn't get done. It's horrible, and it got to me, and I just couldn't write it. if Morbid doesn't put it up today, I'll probably tackle it tomorrow and see how i do with it - this is the first case that made me sick enough that i couldn't post it.

Phillip Gayle deserves to die for this one.

[JenJen1995]

It's ok Imp---That just shows that you haven't become so mind-numbingly jaded to all of the death and gore that you have become jaded/ numb to the horrible-ness of it all!

Nausea is a good thing in this case. :)


Sometimes, some of these posts make me light-headed and feel ill for a bit too. Overwhelming.

[guntotin' liberal]

The baby is with the mother? She is just as guilty IMO.

[Lizard]

http://i26.tinypic.com/10hpue1.jpg


Rebecca Gayle, mother of Joshua Jenkins, moved to Mississippi with her baby, Ian, after Phillipe Gayle was arrested in connection with Joshua’s death. She is required to meet certain conditions to keep custody of Ian, including attending therapy session, submitting the name of any potential caregiver, and have her progress reviewed monthly.

She has not been charged with anything. Columnist Sam Cook finds the notion that she knew nothing of the abuse unlikely. We don’t know whether Rebecca Gayle condoned the brutality on Joshua by her husband, but she played the “he-bruises-easily’’ card each time her son’s schools or Department of Children and Families pointed out new discolorations on his body.

http://www.news-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080505/SS08/80505084/1075
http://www.news-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080423/COLUMNISTS02/80422075/1018/COLUMNISTS

[thebooblady]

Lots of info out now.

http://www.news-press.com/article/20091101/COLUMNISTS02/91031051/1075


Gayle, 28, didn’t do anything differently than adults do every day playing with young children.


When 66-pound Joshua asked to be tossed in the air or given a shoulder helicopter spin, the 220-pound stepdad complied.


But Gayle was aware of the risk at play.


Joshua was a kid you had to handle with care.


He had Von Willebrand’s disease, a blood-clotting disorder. He easily bruised and was forbidden to play contact sports.


Yet the disease didn’t kill Joshua. Roughhousing with Gayle did.
“Was the disease the cause of the (fatal) injury?’’ Assistant State Attorney Francine Donnorummo asked Friday in court.


“Absolutely not,’’ answered Dr. Rebecca Hamilton, Lee County medical examiner.
Hamilton said Joshua died from internal bleeding caused by blunt-force trauma. The Cape boy had a twice-lacerated liver and three liters of blood in his abdomen. Hamilton testified the manner of death was not an accident and ruled it a homicide.


But Gayle denied physical contact for most of a four-hour statement he gave to Cape Coral police Detectives Christy Jo Ellis and Kurt Grau a day after the boy died.


When investigators produced pictures of Joshua’s injuries, Gayle confessed to three accidents:


• Joshua fell off the bed.


• While giving Joshua a ride on his back, Gayle tripped and head-butted the boy in the stomach.


• Gayle punched Joshua in the side while tossing him in the air.






Joshua Jenkins died Feb. 18, 2008, at HealthPark Medical Center in south Fort Myers. An autopsy showed trauma to his lungs, a torn liver, three liters of blood in his abdomen, bite marks and injuries to his genitals.

http://www.news-press.com/article/20091029/NEWS01/910290375/1002/Mother-describes-son-s-last-day


Gayle had been in contact with his wife all day, but he didn't tell her anything was wrong until she was almost home, Belohlavek said.

She also said Gayle's account changed as he retold the story to investigators. "Finally, the defendant says, 'I'm tired of lying,'" Belohlavek said.

Gayle knew Joshua was badly hurt - the boy told Gayle so himself, Belohlavek said. "Joshua said, 'Daddy help me. I can't see. My stomach hurts. Daddy, I'm not playing. I have to go to the doctor.' But (Gayle) does nothing."

"He knew his actions caused Joshua's injuries," Belohlavek said. "And he knew his inactions led to Joshua's death "

Head down, Gayle's eyelids fluttered as Rebecca described the scene she saw when she got home: "I stormed in the door and said, 'Where's Joshua?'"

Gayle seemed shocked and disorganized, she said.

Then she saw Joshua.

"His eyes weren't working right. They were moving independently, and there was no color in his skin," Rebecca said.

She picked up her limp, ashen son and raced him to Cape Coral Hospital, where paramedic Michael Dierking heard her cries for help. Joshua was later airlifted to HealthPark.

"He was grayish, not breathing, slumped in the booster seat," Dierking said.

[skeptik]

How have I never heard of him? Ok. I am beginning to maybe sorta think I might need to get the hell out of Florida.

[Dneilz]

I will never understand how anyone can do something like this to a child/baby. It breaks my heart. That poor child reached out to the very man who had beat him.....

[biteme]

Lot of nuts out there, and DCF is our safety net, but field workers and investigators can't be expected to get positive results without training, follow through or supervision
DCF has to understand asking the abusers if they are abusers and getting a NO! Response, is not an investigation, you don't just close the case and walk away. Criminals don't admit to being criminals when asked, DCF needs to understand that simple reality.
I rant about CPS and whatever, but believe me it's the abusers I really hate, I just lose it when I feel everyone sees the problem except whatever family/child service is investigating. I just lose it when a child's suffering could've been stopped and wasn't.

[MadeaBecBec]

http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff307/MadeaBecBec/Mugshots/PhillipeGaylekilledJoshuaJenkins6yr.jpg
Phillipe Gayle,28 Mug



It took the six jurors less than an hour and a half to reach their verdict in the courtroom of Lee Circuit Judge Ramiro Manalich.
As the unanimous decision was read by the clerk, Gayle, 28, dropped his head into his hands, then folded them as if in prayer.
In the courtroom, his wife, Rebecca, wept silently. She declined to comment.
Phillipe Gayle now faces up to 45 years in prison, said defense attorney Neil McLoughlin. A sentencing date has not been set.
An autopsy showed a twice-lacerated liver, three liters of blood in Joshua's abdomen, bruises inside and outside his body and bite marks.


Gayle told deputies he was afraid of Rebecca. "She's gonna kick my ass," he told deputies. "And he was right," Donnorummo said. "He killed her child. He killed Joshua Jenkins."

http://www.news-press.com/article/20091103/NEWS01/911030362/1075

I hope he gets the maximum of 45 years, not enough, but, maybe he will die there, because someone head butts him in the stomach. And he receives no medical attention.

So Sorry Joshua, such a painful way to go! You can rest easier now, Justice has been declared.

[MadeaBecBec]

Nyasha Johnson, the Department of Children and Families investigator who looked into the alleged abuse of 6-year-old Joshua Jenkins last year, also checked allegations of abuse against 3-year-old Zahid Jones Jr. in 2006.

Both boys are dead.


She investigated allegations of abuse against Joshua in May, according to case files DCF released Thursday.


"Overall risk is low," Johnson wrote in her assessment of the case. "(Joshua) was found to be clean, appearing well-nourished and free of any injuries with the exception of a bruise on his elbow which is related to his arm that had been broken and had not healed properly."


DCF reassigned Johnson to a non-investigative position in December. She later resigned.

http://www.news-press.com/article/20080227/SS08/302270021
Photo of Rebecca Gayle at the link......