South Carolina Child Injury Lawyer Blog

It is by no means new news that child sexual abuse cases have grabbed national attention in the last month. These devastating stories have brought to light a culture of sexual deviance that is not only physically abusive to the victims, but also extremely damaging in regards to emotional and mental development. In sharing these accounts of gross misconduct it is the aim of your Charleston accident lawyers at Howell and Christmas, LLC to inform South Carolinians of the unacceptable frequency in which these attacks occur, as well as implore victims of abuse to find the courage to speak out against those responsible for selfishly damaging the lives of far too many children.

Since it was discovered that a Mt. Pleasant educator, volunteer, and coach had been abusing young boys at various volunteer and work positions, a day hasn't gone by that child sexual abuse and molestation is reported on television, in local and nationally circulated papers, and across various platforms on the World Wide Web. In the cases involving the local coach and former Penn State assistant coach, it is apparent the administrators were more concerned with the reputation of their institutions than the well being of the children their employees seriously injured. We all know the famed head football coach at Penn State decided to follow the chain of command, reporting the sexual abuse seen by of one of his graduate assistants to the school's Athletic Director, instead of going directly to law enforcement. And it has been nationally reported that law enforcement was not contacted after former camper at the Citadel confronted administrators at the military academy, claiming that the local coach had invited him into his room to watch pornography. Both institutions failed not only the campers they intentionally neglected to protect, but also the communities they occupy by putting the "desire to protect their own" ahead of the young campers who trusted they would safe under their guidance.

Apart from these two widely covered instances of criminal sexual conduct, rape, and lewd acts, there have been several additional occurrences of equally troubling behavior involving child sexual abuse.

Continue reading "Charleston Child Injury Attorneys Note National Spotlight on Sex Abuse and Additional Lowcountry Incidents" »

Charleston child injury lawyers recently took notice of a study released by The Partnership at Drugfree. The study's finding were quite astonishing, and a bit disturbing, teens today see downing 5 or more alcoholic drinks almost every day as not a big deal. When teens were asked if they see a "great risk" in consuming that amount of alcohol on regular basis, 45 percent of the teen respondents didn't see it as a big problem.

While this study shows that today's teens do not view heavy drinking as a serious threat, the percentage of teens drinking is actually on the decline. An article on the study reported by the Post and Courier quotes the former chairman of the American Medical Association as saying, "It's important that we not lose sight of the progress our country has made in fighting underage drinking," and, "U.S. government data shows underage drinking and binge drinking are at record low levels."

But, even with this progress, the car accident attorneys at Howell and Christmas, LLC, being parents themselves, want to stress the importance of being involved with your children as a means of protecting your child from destructive behavior. The earlier kids start drinking the more likely they are to get involved in other unsafe behaviors.

Continue reading "South Carolina Drunk Driving Accident Attorneys Talk Teens and Drinking" »

Before getting into the details of the case, South Carolina child sexual abuse lawyers want to put out the bravery of the 10-year-old victim in this incident. Right after being molested she did exactly what any child should do after be sexually abused, she went to her mother and told her what happened.

Far too often children are afraid of reporting these gross incidents of child abuse to their parents or authorities, but because of this girls unflinching action her molester was quickly captured and put behind bars, preventing him from causing harm to other children in the community.

The attorneys at Howell and Christmas,LLC have children too, and know that in order to protect children and society at large, we must take action against those individuals that cause harm to children to recover compensation, medical treatment and all other damages from those who are responsible for a child's abuse and injury. By doing so, we can help children and their families get their lives back on track, compensate the injured child and their families for their losses and prevent future negligent behavior of wrongdoers that would otherwise continue to harm if they were not held accountable for their harmful conduct.

Continue reading "Walterboro Man Sentenced in Child Sexual Abuse Case" »

As a sour economy causes a loss of jobs across South Carolina, the increase in joblessness causes a spike a child abuse. South Carolina child injury lawyers were immediately struck by this disturbing parallel reported by the Greenville News that cited a Boston University study.

In the study researchers examined 18 years of data and found that as the unemployment rate raises 1 percent, child mistreatment reports increase by at least .5 percent per 1,000 children. The data analyzed was collected from child mistreatment reports from the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System along with data from the Current Population Survey from the Bureau of Labor Statistics on a statewide basis from 1990 to 2008, according to the study's abstract.

Over the last fiscal year, South Carolina's Department of Social Services investigated 19,000 cases of child abuse and neglect, an increase in close to 7 percent from the previous year. The number of proven cases of abuse in South Carolina rose 3 percent to nearly 7,000 cases.

Continue reading "South Carolina Child Abuse and Joblessness Have Direct Relationship" »

Charleston Child Sexual Abuse Attorneys advise and want to make the public aware about a particularly disturbing story. A Charleston man has been accused of fondling a 19-month old infant, photographing the acts and then sending the photos to his brother in Virginia. The man, an organist at a local church, sent the photos to his brother, a 25-year old York County, VA man, who subsequently distributed the photos to a woman in Calgary, Canada. This woman, disturbed by the image, contacted The Royal Canadian Mounted Police, who act as Canada's domestic police force. From there the RCMP made the necessary calls to US police agencies which were quickly able to make the necessary charges on first the man's brother and then the Charleston man.

Law Enforcement served a warrant to the man's home and arrested him on the charges of second-degree sexual exploitation of a minor and lewd act on a minor. The man's lawyer requested a low bail of $10,000 but the Judge upon reviewing the charges stated ""I don't think I've ever dealt with a child that young being fondled. And I'm very concerned about that." Bail was set at $100,000 and the man was then detained at the Charleston County Detention Center. The man's brother is being charged with in York County, VA on four child pornography-related charges.

The trafficking of Child Pornography is a crime that perpetrated mainly by means of file sharing and transferal over the Internet. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children reports that those who engage in the exploitation of these children and the sharing of these photos are overwhelmingly White, non married, middle aged males. South Carolina Child Injury Lawyers urge anyone who has come into contact with such explicit material or have been harmed by this material to contact Law enforcement personnel immediately.

Sources: The Charleston Post and Courier, "Local man accused of distributing child porn"
Police: Pictures show suspect fondling 19-month-old", Andy Paras, July 5th, 2010

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children

Charleston Child Accident lawyers urge the public to be aware of how a particularly vicious case of child abuse was brought to justice. A 20-year old Dorchester County man recieved an 20 years in prison for his brutal attack on two young children. The man was found guilty of stomping on the genital areas of two children, ages 5 and 6.

The man was arrested on May 13,2008 by Dorchester County Law Enforcement. The children's grandmother had made the police aware of what had happened. The man pleaded guilty to pleaded guilty to two counts of assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature, and one count of infliction of great bodily injury upon a child. In addition to his time in prison, he will be placed on the Child abuse registry and forced to register as a sex offender.

In speaking after the trial, First Circuit Assistant Solicitor Jean Popowski thanked the law enforcement officers and "the brave young victims who had the courage and willingness to testify against their abuser." Charleston area Child Abuse attorneys commend the work of both Law Enforcement professionals in bringing this case to conclusion.

Source: The Post and Courier, "Man gets 20 years in child abuse case", August 5th, 2009

Charleston child injury attorneys report that a Summerville man suspected of child assault has turned himself in to the police. The suspect is accused of sexually assaulting a 9-year-old girl over an extended period of time. The accused, a 40 year-old man, was charged for the alleged sexual assault to a minor on March 6 and was supposed to turn himself in, but he did not.

When he turned himself in he had multiple charges awaiting his arrival. He has been charged with two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor and committing a lewd act upon a child under the age of 16 years old, Summerville Police Captain Jon Rogers told journalists.

The charges against the suspect were filed after the young girl told a classmate about the suspect’s inappropriate touching. The classmate told her parents who then emailed the school’s guidance counselor. The guidance counselor immediately had the student come in for a counseling session, where the counselor got the child to admit to the alleged sexual assault.

The 9-year-old girl told the counselor the abuse took place when she was left alone with the suspect and had been occurring from August 2009 until late February 2010. After the counseling session with the young girl, the counselor contacted the Police. The Police immediately filed charges against the man demanding him to turn himself in. The suspect did not turn himself in until Wednesday, March 17, twelve days after his warrant was issued.

Source: The Post and Courier- “Child assault suspect turns himself in.” March 18, 2010.