Joe Skenandore Abducted and Sexually Assaulted 3yo But Nothing Will Be Done About It

[Whisper]

Questions remain on Skenandore
July 23 2010
Accused of abducting, assaulting 3-year-old
APPLETON - Some say the alleged sexual assault of a young child should have been prevented.
Joseph Skenandore was charged this week, with sexually assaulting a 3-year-old in the Appleton area.
And this isn't the first time he's faced those kinds of charges.
That's why the mayor is among those saying it never should have happened again.
Some people in the northwest Appleton neighborhood are still on edge, even after the arrest of Joseph Skenandore.
"It does worry you. I kept my doors locked and you don't even want to come inside. I was afraid to come home and come in the house," said Roseann Krahn.
Skenandore was living at a house for people with special needs on Erb Street.
Police say Tuesday night, Skenandore abducted a 3-year-old who lived nearby.
They say Skenandore took the boy to Kiwanis Park and sexually assaulted him.
The 28-year-old was charged with sexually assaulting a child in 2003. Those charges were dropped because he was not mentally capable of standing trial. That's when Skenandore was brought into a chapter 55 commitment.
"Chapter 55 is a protective placement. You have to be ruled permanently incompetent to have a protective placement. So you have to have a guardian," said Brown County Assistant Corporation Counsel Rebecca Lindner.
But some neighbors say they never saw one.
"He'd be outside in the front yard by himself, just walking back and forth," said Krahn.
Lindner is not connected with the case, but knows about chapter 55. She said there are different types of guardians, and they are dependent on a case by case basis.
[...]
"Somebody needs to be accountable for this. If the individual's incompetent, then who is accountable?" said Hanna. "I think we need to figure out where the system broke down."
Mayor Hanna said he's angry no one, not even the police department, was told Skenandore was living in the neighborhood.
[...]

http://www.fox11online.com/dpp/news/...eph-skenandore

Skenandore's Home Did Not Need to be Registered with State, Company Says
We're learning more about the Appleton residence where a man accused of abducting and sexually assaulting a three-year-old boy lived.
Police arrested 28-year-old Joseph Skenandore on Tuesday. They say the boy got out of the house when his mother was doing laundry and Skenandore grabbed the boy from his front yard and ran off with him.
Skenandore is charged with first-degree sexual assault of a child and child enticement.

Community Care is a Milwaukee-based company that provides care services to the Erb Street home where Skenandore lives, behind the boy's home.
Community Care says it is not a group home but rather what it calls a "supportive apartment" -- meaning people pay rent to live there like an apartment house and services are provided to them.

The company says the home is not licensed by the State because supportive apartments don't have to be, unlike group homes or nursing homes.

Community Care confirmed it provided family care services to two people at the residence, one of them being Skenandore.
[...]
In general, it says, it provides services like transportation, therapy, work services, and home care.
"They have to have long-term care needs that qualify them for the program," Community Care chief operations officer Paul Soczynski said.
[...]
"The goal," Soczynski said, "is to keep people living in an environment where it's the least restrictive based on what their needs or their issues or whatever."
[...]
We contacted the State to learn more about licensing requirements but have not heard back.

http://www.wbay.com/Global/story.asp?S=12855914

Mental health issues complicate Appleton abduction case
APPLETON — The Appleton man charged with sexually assaulting and abducting a 3½-year-old boy last week had been charged before with sexually assaulting a child, but the cases were dismissed because he was mentally incompetent.

Those dismissals mean Joseph G. Skenandore was never listed on the state's Sex Offender Registry.
The fact that a man whom police say posed a risk to children was not listed and neighbors weren't told when he moved into a home for developmentally disabled adults has many residents frustrated about a potential flaw in the system designed to identify and flag sex offenders.
The case of 28-year-old Skenandore is steeped in shades of gray in a criminal justice system designed to reach black-and-white conclusions.
Skenandore will appear in court Wednesday for a hearing on whether he's mentally competent to undergo prosecution on charges of first-degree sexual assault, child enticement and abduction of a child. The question of competency is the same one that allowed Skenandore to avoid prosecution on earlier charges and possibly a listing on the Sex Offender Registry.
Grace Roberts, chief of the Wisconsin Sex Offender Registration Program, said state law is clear that registration requirements apply only in cases in which a verdict is reached. "The statute actually says conviction, adjudication or be found not guilty by reason of insanity," she said.
Skenandore's previous cases — six in all in Outagamie County from 1999 to 2007 ranging from disorderly conduct to sexual assault of a 14-year-old boy — don't meet that standard. Each was dismissed before a verdict was reached because he was not competent to stand trial.
[...]
the rest is at the link its to long to post all of it

http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/...07&located=rss

Joseph Skenandore

The nursing home I work at is licensed by the goverment and we do have some in this age group as this guy(20s) and they are supervised.
Psych Home I work at in the summer is also licensed by gov and they are on meds and are supervised and follow our instructions but daytime they are allowed to bus around the city and go to appts etc,etc diff is knowing we have given them their meds makes all the diff in the world
We had 1 guy go and live at a "home" such as this home b/c his family thopught it made them look bad that he was in a psych home.
Well he lasted 3 months in that home and ended up in prison for murder b/c in those home they DONT have to take meds and he was schizophrenic
Heres a link to his story
Schizophrenic Windsor man gets life for murder
All over a couple of cigarettes
http://news.ca.msn.com/top-stories/c...entid=24368323

[MOGal]

Wow,...the system is broken.

[Whisper]

Wow,...the system is broken.

Very broken and I'm not defending this guys actions but these "homes" whether on States or Canada aren't doing anyone any favors.
These unlicensed homes when a person has such mental instabilities are just open doors for trouble.
At least when properly supervised the public has a chance
The ones here that are like where he was are privately owned by people with money but no education in looking after people with these probs
And the government pays them bog bucks to keep them in the homes thats why they do it

[KyFyre]

If he was mentally capable of grabbing a child, kidnapping the child and abusing that child, he should be mentally capable of standing trial. At the very least the system failed in the fact that they allowed a violent man to continue being free. There are institutions where he would have and could have been kept locked up from society preventing him from hurting more children. Let's hope the courts remember this fact for this guy this time around.

I'm not against homes for special needs people as NOT all of them are like this man. Many just want a chance to live a semi-independent life just like those of us who were lucky enough to be born without the challenges they have. In fact many special needs people are actually kind, loving, and so happy in spite of their circumstances, and they prove daily they are just as capable as everyone else in being contributing and productive members in society. Do I think that violent offenders like this guy should be allowed to live freely in one of those homes? No. But I do think the idea behind homes like this are a great idea all the same for those who are nothing like this guy.

[Tundratot]

Homes like that sound great for people who need extra care, some independence, and no criminal propensity. This guy had criminal history and should have been in a prison type facility, whether a locked down mental ward or a specialty clinic for the criminally insane. He should not have been living so freely and in a situation where no one was responsible. I don't blame the home for this. I blame whoever thought this was an adequate placement for him.

[Dakota Valkyrie]

A man who stood accused of kidnapping and sexually assaulting a 3½-year-old child was unable to tell a psychologist the current month or the day of the week.

Joseph G. Skenandore, 28, couldn't name the president or do simple arithmetic, much less understand the basic concepts of the legal system.

As a result, two psychologists say Skenandore can't receive a fair trial on three felony charges.

"He did not know if his charges were serious or not," Dr. Richard Hurlbut testified during a hearing Friday before Outagamie County Judge Nancy Krueger. "He didn't know whether they were felony or misdemeanor. He didn't know which was worse."

Krueger dismissed the case against Skenandore and placed him in the custody of the state Department of Health and Family Services for a civil commitment.
[...]

Skenandore has been charged on six prior occasions, though he's never been convicted.

Those cases included sexual assault charges in 2003. In each of those cases, Skenandore was found incompetent to stand trial, and charges were dismissed. He was placed on supervision in 2003 under a law that allows courts to set requirements for people deemed unable to care for themselves or a danger to themselves or others.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Melinda Tempelis sought and was granted the release of the competency reports to the county's corporation counsel for use in the civil commitment case. She said she wanted to assure enough information was available to assist in placing Skenandore in an appropriate facility with proper supervision and conditions to assure a similar crime won't happen again.

Marcellino said Skenandore has no concept of time, but showed an ability to recall events that occurred in the past. He told Marcellino of his involvement in a go-cart crash. He said it occurred about a month ago, when it couldn't have occurred within the last six years, he testified.

Hurlbut on Friday said Skenandore was able to give an account of the July 20 incident that generally followed what was alleged in court documents.

"He seemed to understand the very basics of the event," Hurlbut said. "He knew he did wrong."

But Hurlbut said Skenandore couldn't grasp the concept of a no-contest plea. He didn't know what guilty means or what a judge does.

No level of counseling would help and there are no medications that would improve his cognitive abilities, Hurlbut told the court.

http://www.postcrescent.com/article/...ng-sex-assault

[Pene784]

This is the type of special needs person who would benefit from sexual release training. They actually teach that to some of the special needs children in our area. I think it is a good idea.