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View Full Version : Dale Berger took the neighbor's autistic son


Dakota Valkyrie
June 20th, 2009, 06:39 PM
http://i44.tinypic.com/2ynnxhw.jpgA La Crosse man has been charged with kidnapping and child abduction after authorities said he took a neighbor’s 4-year-old to a church mission, claiming the child was his grandson.

The boy, who has a mild form of autism, was on a “time out” in his backyard when he disappeared Tuesday morning, according to the complaint filed Wednesday in La Crosse County Circuit Court.

About 90 minutes later, police got a call from a worker at St. Joseph the Workman Cathedral’s Front Door Ministry, saying Dale Berger, a regular, had shown up drunk with the child in tow, saying the boy was hungry.

Berger, who lives in the same block as the boy, told police he found him on the street, according to the complaint. He said he explained traffic signals and went to Cameron Park, where the boy chased squirrels. Berger then took him to the post office to see if his veterans’ benefits check had arrived.

According to the complaint, Berger said the boy told him his parents were dead, so he wanted to help.

Asked why he didn’t bring the child to a fire station or business, Berger said he wasn’t thinking. A breath test showed he had a 0.21 percent blood-alcohol level.

The boy was returned safely to his mother.

According to court records, the 60-year-old Berger has 26 convictions since 2001, most for disorderly conduct and bail jumping, as well as a dozen from previous decades.

La Crosse County Circuit Judge Elliott Levine set bail at $10,000 cash, saying “Mr. Berger has no way to stop drinking when he’s out in the community.”http://www.lacrossetribune.com/articles/2009/06/11/news/z01berger11.txt
[...]
He had been outside in the yard, when he vanished.

The victim's mom says, "I as nervous because it was too long and he's a little boy. He's only four and he has problems and I didn't know where he was. I didn't know what to do."

The victim's mother called police. She didn't know that an intoxicated Dale Berger had found her son who has special needs and brought him to the Cathedral Church.
[...]

The case that leaves many puzzling now goes to trial.

Dale Berger entered two pleas.

He plead not guilty to both charges.

And not guilty by mental defect.
[...]http://www.wxow.com/Global/story.asp?S=10558634

Too many WTFs :confused7: in this story.

ScribbleMuse
June 20th, 2009, 07:08 PM
I agree--lots of WTFs.

For one thing, just from this story, this man seems that it may actually be perfectly fair/correct to say that he's not guilty because of mental deficit. He did a terribly wrong thing, true, but it sounds to me like he does not have the reasoning required to say that he has acceptable insight and judgment, and I think it's more of a mental problem than an alcoholic one, though I'm sure the alcohol didn't help matters. He explained about traffic lights, took the child to a place where he thought would help the child, and so it doesn't sound outright evil/wrong.

Now then... who the hell sends a 4-year-old autistic child outside for a time out? I really think that there is no true criminal aspect to this, but more of a collective tragic mental/intelligence defect affecting all the adults.

Dneilz
June 20th, 2009, 08:22 PM
Time out is not an appropriate form of discipline for a child with autism...and certainly leaving him alone is a bad practice as well. I think many of you have heard my horror story's in regard to my son. That aside, this man is not only creepy looking, but belongs in rehab and then perhaps a psychiatric ward.

Glad the little guy wasn't harmed and was returned back to mom.