• West Virginia mayor: My son's drug arrest might save his life

    Rick Lee / Office of the Mayor

    Charleston, W.V., Mayor Danny Jones issued a statement saying he was "relieved" when his son was arrested on a drug charge and asked law enforcement to treat him the same as anyone else.

    By Tracy Connor, Staff Writer, NBC News

    A West Virginia mayor issued an extraordinary statement Thursday after his son was arrested on cocaine charges, saying he was "relieved" and begging law-enforcement not to go easy on him.

    "I know that the only things that might save his life are isolation and yes, incarceration," Charleston Mayor Danny Jones wrote in an email to reporters after his 23-year-old son Zachary was busted for the third time in five years.

    "If in jail or prison, I know that Zac has a better chance at living than on the outside. This is because Zac is a hopeless drug addict who has broken the heart and the will of everyone and anyone who has tried to help him," the statement continued.

    Jones told NBC News that it was "heartbreaking" to write those words, but he believes tough love is the only answer for his son. He said his son's mother had custody of him growing up but that he also had a close relationship with him.

    Charleston, W.V., police department

    Zachary Jones, son of the mayor of Charleston, W.V., was arrested Thursday on a drug charge. His father said he was relieved and thinks jail will save his life.

    "I've done everything a parent could do to try and help him," he said. "He's been detoxed at least a half-dozen times and I paid to put him through rehab twice."

    Charleston police confirmed that Zachary Jones was arrested for driving under the influence in 2008, pleaded guilty and was fined $100. He was arrested for heroin possession in 2011; the case was dismissed after he completed rehab and agreed to enter the military, which he failed to do, his lawyer said.

    On Thursday morning, police conducting a traffic stop arrested Jones, along with a 24-year-old Detroit man, and charged both with possession of an ounce of cocaine with intent to deliver, according to the criminal complaint.

    The young man is being held in the local jail in lieu of $25,000 bond.

    William Forbes, an attorney who represented the son in the heroin case and was retained again Thursday, said his client told him "he loves his father and understands" why he made the statement.

    “He’s a really, really nice kid with a really bad addiction problem,” Forbes said, adding that he counseled his client to stay in jail for the moment. “The mayor loves in his son very much.”

    When the younger Jones was escorted by officers out of the police station, his father, the assistant mayor and the police chief stood in a line and stared at him.


    "I could tell from his body language -- he hung his head and kind of shook his head -- that he was maybe embarrassed," said Police Chief Brent Webster.

    Webster said the mayor had spoken to him in the past about his son's drug problem.

    "He's told me, 'I don't want to get a call at two in the morning that he's been killed. I'd rather hear he's in jail," the police chief said.

    The mayor said that in 2011, a friend bailed his son out of jail. He hopes that doesn't happen this time.

    "I plead with those in the law-enforcement, judicial and jail and prison system to treat my son no better or worse than any other defendant," he said in his statement. "My son does not need anyone to save him from taking this life-saving fall."

    The mayor, who said he has been sober for 19 years, said he hopes his statement will be a "moment of clarity" for his son and inspire other parents facing a similar situation to take action.

    He said he also wanted to make it clear that he has never tried to use his position to get his son off the hook.

    Asked whether some people might find his comments harsh, he said, "I don't care. Anybody who thinks it's really harsh hasn't dealt with this on a personal basis."

    "I think the only place that's safe for him is jail, and I'm sorry to say it," he added.

     

  • 'Tan Mom' Patricia Krentcil looking for her place in the sun

    Jonathan Sanger / NBC News

    Patricia Krentcil, at her home in Nutley, N.J., is hoping to turn her notoriety into a lotion line, a book and a comedy act.

    By Tracy Connor, Staff Writer, NBC News

    The New Jersey woman known as "Tan Mom" has big plans now that the criminal case against her is over: a self-tanning lotion line, a book proposal, a comedy act — and a raft of lawsuits.

    But right now what Patricia Krentcil wants is a vacation.

    "Somewhere hot so I can fry like a bacon and come back and say, 'Ha! Ha! You can't arrest me for lying in the sun,'" Krentcil, 44, said with a laugh.

    "Not my face, though. Just my body."

    It was Krentcil's face — practically the color of a chestnut in some photos — that made her a national punchline after she was arrested in May and charged with exposing her then-five-year-old daughter, Anna, to damaging ultraviolet rays at tanning salons in Nutley, N.J.

    Julio Cortez / AP file

    Patricia Krentcil as she waited to be arraigned at the Essex County Superior Court in May.

    Krentcil denied it from the start, claiming a school nurse misinterpreted a sunburn Anna got from playing outside and that police misunderstood when her daughter said she "went tanning with Mommy."

    Last week, a grand jury declined to indict her on a child endangerment charge, ending a 10-month saga that the mother of five described a nightmare.

    "I’ve literally been stuck in my home for the past year," she said. "No matter where I go, everyone knows me. It’s very uncomfortable."

    If she went out to eat, a murmur would run through the restaurant. A sofa-shopping trip had to be cut short when other customers started taking pictures. She was the object of ridicule in her children's schools.

    "It doesn't matter where I go: I'm 'Tan Mom,'" she said.

    She couldn't shake the nickname, so she embraced it, making TV appearances and getting a magazine makeover.

    Over the last few months, she's been working with a self-styled skin guru, Dana Ramos, on launching her own line of self-tanners under the name Real Tan Mom Healthy Glow.


    Ramos, who has her own skin-care line, helped rehabilitate Krentcil's complexion, which was marred by oversize pores, dark spots, and lines from up to 20 sessions in the tanning bed each month.

    She said she banned Krentcil from tanning -- many salons said they wouldn't serve her anyway -- and oversaw a regimen of peels and moisturizers. A plastic surgeon helped with some fillers.

    "I haven't tanned in forever," Krentcil said, sounding not entirely happy about it.

    She vowed she'll never set foot in another salon, but insisted there's nothing wrong with catching some natural rays, along as she keeps the sun off her paler, but hardly porcelain face.

    With her stock broker husband out of work and thousands in legal bills to pay, Krentcil is looking for other ways to cash in on her notoriety beyond the lotion line, which is weeks away from being finished.

    She said she is writing a book, but doesn't have an agent or publisher. Once the subject of a "Saturday Night Live" sendup, she'd like to leverage her wacky story and offbeat personality for a comedy routine.

    And she's ready for warmer climes.

    "I don't like this town at all or this state, more or less ... I wanna go somewhere beautiful," she said.

    In an exclusive interview with TODAY from May of 2012, Patricia Krentcil, the New Jersey mom accused of taking her five-year-old daughter into a tanning booth, insisted she is innocent and said she wishes everyone would leave her family alone. NBC's Mara Schiavocampo reports.

    Krentcil said she is planning lawsuits against anyone who made money off her story, like the manufacturers of a Barbie-type doll  based on her, or Halloween costumes.

    She said she also wants to sue the school district since that's where the initial complaint about Anna's sunburn came from. The district superintendent did not return a call for comment.

    Nearly a year after her arrest, Krentcil said she’s at a loss to explain why the authorities went after her. "Envy? Jealousy?" she said.

    She's certainly not ready to forgive and forget, boasting that when the school nurse called recently about her daughter being ill, she barked at her, "Oh, you didn't call the police?"

    For the record, she said, she never once put her child in a tanning bed. The fair-skinned redhead would lie on towels on the floor, sometimes with a mask over her eyes, while her mother soaked up the UV rays, she said.

    At one point, she was offered a plea deal with 60 days of probation and turned it down, deciding she'd take her chances with a jury if it came to that.

    "They made a mockery of me,” she said. “But I stood by my beliefs and said, 'I did not do this.'"

    Related:

    What's caused the N.J. tanning mom's leathery look?

     

  • Breast-feeding moms say they were harassed by security at Delaware mall

    View more videos at: http://nbcphiladelphia.com.

    By Monique Braxton and David Chang, NBC10.com

    Three mothers campaigning for the right to breast-feed in public say they were harassed by security guards while nursing inside a mall.

    Diana Hitchens, Autumne Murray and Jessica Hitchens staged a "nurse-in" at the Hollister store at the Concord Mall in Wilmington, Del., on Saturday.

    The protest was a response to an alleged incident at a mall in Houston, Texas, in which a mother claimed a Hollister manager threw her out for breast-feeding inside the store.

    View more videos at: http://nbcdfw.com.

    According to Delaware state law, women are allowed to breast-feed in any public or private location.

    Read more stories at NBC10.com

    The mothers carried posters which read, “Hey Hollister, my baby has a right to eat. It’s the law,” as well as “Normalize breast-feeding in public. Do you eat in public? Why shouldn’t our babies?”

    “We walked through the store and the employees asked if we needed help with anything,” said Diana Hitchens of Elkton, Maryland. “We were actually nursing as we were walking through the store.”

    But moments after they staged a sit-in, mall security arrived.


    “Two security guards walked up to us,” said Autumne Murray of Elkton, Maryland. “They started questioning us and asking us why we were exposing ourselves and saying that we needed to leave or cover up. We got in an argument with them about it for a little bit and then they left.”

    From NBCDFW.com: Battle over breastfeeding

    When mall security returned, they brought along a Delaware State Trooper who was on routine patrol, according to state police.

    “He was asking if we were exposing ourselves saying that the security guards said we were exposing ourselves and that we could be kicked out of the mall if we didn’t cover up,” Murray added.

    Delaware State Police told NBC10 they are considering the incident a “civil matter” between the three women and the mall.

    Concord Mall security and customer service employees referred NBC10 to their superiors who return to work on Monday, and asked reporters to leave the parking lot.

     

  • Kansas demands that sperm donor pay child support

    By NBC staff and wire services

    A Kansas man who donated sperm to a lesbian couple three years ago is fighting the state’s demand that he pay child support.


    The two women raising the 3-year-old girl say they support the man, who responded to an ad they posted on the Craigslist website in 2009, the Topeka Capital-Journal reported.

    The issue of child support arose when the two women broke up, and the couple applied for state services. Workers at the Kansas Department for Children and Families demanded the donor’s name and then filed a child-support claim against him, the newspaper said.

    Angela Bauer, one of the mothers, told the Capital-Journal that she and her former partner, Jennifer Schreiner, support the donor, William Marotta, “in whatever action he wants to go forward with” to fight the state's demand.

    "This was a wonderful opportunity with a guy with an admirable, giving character who wanted nothing more than to help us have a child," the newspaper quoted Bauer, 40, as saying. "I feel like the state of Kansas has made a mess out of the situation."

    When Bauer and Schreiner, the 34-year-old birth mother, reached a deal with Marotta that did not include any payment for his sperm donation, he signed a written agreement that relinquished all parental rights and held him harmless “for any child support payments demanded of him by any other person or entity, public or private ... regardless of the circumstances or said demand,” it said. 

    The state argued in court papers that because the insemination wasn’t performed by a licensed physician, the contract was null and void.

    When the two women split in 2010, they had eight children, including some they adopted, whom they now co-parent. 

    Marotta, a 43-year-old mechanic, was dragged into the dispute when the couple filed for state assistance. The state insisted that they reveal the donor’s identity, saying that if they refused to do so, their daughter would no longer be eligible for health care coverage. The women reluctantly complied, the Capital-Journal reported.

    The girl’s birth certificate does not include her biological father’s name, and the Capital-Journal said that he had no contact with the girl, other than receiving occasional email updates from Bauer. Both women adopted the girl, although they had to file for adoption separately because the state does not recognize same-sex unions, the newspaper said. This means that the state also cannot collect child support from same-sex parents.

    "More and more gays and lesbians are adopting and reproducing, and this, to me, is a step backward," said Bauer, who formerly supported the family financially but is no longer able to work due to a "serious illness." "I think a lot of progressive movement is happening currently in the world as far as gays and lesbians go. Maybe this is Kansas' stand against some of that."

    The Capital-Journal could not reach Marotta for comment and the Kansas Department for Children and Families declined to discuss the case, citing privacy laws.

    This isn’t the first time states have demanded child support from sperm donors. But in most of those cases, the sperm donor was known to the birth family – usually a man who was friendly with a lesbian couple and who agreed to help them out.

    Court rulings vary
    Sperm donors who donate through a sperm bank are typically protected by state parenting shield laws. But in less straight-forward cases, courts have differed on whether the men should pay up.

    A Massachusetts court ruled this year that a Nigerian immigrant had to pay child support for twins conceived through artificial insemination a year after he and his wife had separated, the Patriot Ledger reported.

    And In Vermont, a man who donated sperm to a female friend was required to pay child support because he maintained a relationship with the children.

    Explained one of the mothers to The Associated Press in 2007: "Part of the decision came down because he was so involved with them. It wasn't that he went to the (sperm) bank and that was it. They called him Papa."

    In New York, a married doctor agreed to donate sperm to a young resident and her partner in the late 1980s, only to be asked 18 years later for child support, the New York Post reported.

    His undoing was sending money and cards to the child, which he would sign, “Dad” or “Daddy.” The biological father’s name was also on the birth certificate.

    But in Washington state, the Court of Appeals ruled in 2004 that a donor can’t be required to pay child support unless he and the mother have signed an explicit contract.

    And in Texas, an appeals court ruled in favor of a former policeman who donated sperm to a woman he had been formerly connected with. He had paid thousands of dollars in child support for twins until the court ruled in his favor.

    When the lawsuit was filed in 2008, the man told McClatchy: "I was totally blown away. I was already married and had moved on with my life."

    NBC's Isolde Raftery and The Associated Press contributed reporting. 

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  • New York woman delivers baby in elevator after being sent home by hospital

    By NBCNewYork.com

    A 31-year-old New York woman gave birth to a baby girl in her apartment elevator shortly after hospital nurses told her to return home because they said she wasn’t ready to deliver.


    Ninfa Ramirez and soon-to-be father Armando Ortiz, 34, rushed to Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx Sunday evening because Ramirez was experiencing labor pains. Nurses told the couple the baby wasn’t ready so they could go home, according to The New York Post.

    Read the full report at NBCNewYork.com

    Moments after Ortiz dropped Ramirez off at their Bronxdale apartment and headed out to run an errand, he was summoned back by Ramirez, who told him the baby was coming. They made it to the elevator, but the baby couldn’t wait.

    Ortiz and two of his pals delivered Monserrath Ortiz in the elevator on the first floor, reports The Post. Ortiz called the delivery “a beautiful experience” and the glowing mother told the paper “it was a big surprise.”

    Ramirez and her 9-pound, 8-ounce daughter were then taken by ambulance to Jacobi hospital. Ortiz told the Post he doesn’t mind the nurses sent them home; he’s just proud to be a dad.

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  • Parents' Facebook sting helps catch sex offender

    By John Langeler, KING 5, and NBC News staff

    SEDRO-WOOLEY, Wash. - A 19-year-old registered sex offender has been arrested in Skagit County, Wash. after the mother of the girl he was dating set up a Facebook sting.

    Jesper and Julie Myrfors say they had been concerned about their daughter’s boyfriend.

    "We just thought she was getting into a dangerous situation,” said Jesper.

    "When I met him, he was totally charming, really likable,” said Julie.

    He is 19-year-old William Elms, also known as Liam. Liam was dating the Myrfors' 17-year-old-daughter. Then, the couple learned Liam was a registered sex offender.

    Read the full story at KING 5

    "When there's a question, follow it.  Find the answer for your kids,” said Julie.

    With some help, the parents set up a sting. The Skagit Valley Herald reported that the couple created a fake profile of a 15-year-old girl, linked to a mutual friend of their daughter.

    After a short time, Elms began sending explicit messages and pictures to the ‘girl’.

    "My daughter didn't know we had done this. I invited her on to begin watching live.  She started watching conversations on our fake little person,” said Julie. "The hardest part as a parent was watching her heart break."

    The relationship was over, but the story wasn't.

    "If we were just to say, well, our daughter's off the hook.  We would be bad citizens,” said Jesper.

    After the couple informed police, Elms was arrested at the Snohomish County Jail where he was serving time for a probation violation. He's now back in the Skagit County Jail, facing charges of Immoral Conduct with a Minor.

    The Associated Press reported Elms’ arrest took place on August 18.

    KING 5 is an NBC affiliate based in Seattle.

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  • Parents of 'Bully' teen appeal dismissal of lawsuit over son's suicide

    Brian Ach / AP Images for National Center for Learning Disabilities

    David and Tina Long watch "Bully" director Lee Hirsch speak at the National Center for Learning Disabilities' 35th Annual Benefit Dinner at the Mandarin Hotel on April 18 in New York City.

    By msnbc.com staff

    The parents of a Georgia teen whose suicide was included in the 2011 documentary “Bully” are appealing a judge's decision to dismiss their federal lawsuit against the Murray County school district, which they blame for his death through “deliberate indifference” toward years of bullying.


    The attorney for David and Tina Long says a notice of appeal was filed June 15, NBC station WRCB of Chattanooga, Tenn., reported.  The Longs’ son, Tyler, was found dead on Oct. 17, 2009, hanging by a belt tied to a closet shelf in his room.

    Tyler, who had Asperger’s syndrome, had been picked on since the fifth grade, the Longs claimed. He was unable to comprehend certain facial expressions and body language, so kids would take advantage of him, they said.

    The Chatsworth Police Department said it would not bring any criminal charges for events leading up to Tyler's death, WRCB reported in 2009.  

    The Longs in 2010 sued the school district and the principal of Murray County High School in Chatsworth, claiming Tyler killed himself because school officials failed to protect him from the bullying even though middle school and high school administrators had been told of the harassment and of Tyler’s medical conditions.

    On May 23, Judge Harold Murphy of the U.S. District Court in Rome, Ga., tossed out the suit in a 186-page ruling favoring the school district:

    "Even viewing the evidence in a light most favorable to Plaintiffs, the Court cannot find that Defendants' response was clearly unreasonable, caused additional harassment, or demonstrates an official decision by Defendants not to remedy disability harassment. Under those circumstances, the Court finds that Defendants' actions do not rise to the level of deliberate indifference."

    Tina Long  told WRCB after the ruling, "We're in shock. The judge seemed to agree with us, but has dismissed the case."

    The Longs this week told WRCB they are hoping to appeal, but say their ability to fight the case in court could be hampered by a lack of money.

    “Based on the ruling, even if a school is aware that a student is being severely abused on an ongoing basis and fails to protect him, they are immune from liability,” the Longs said in a prepared statement. “Parents all over the country need to know of this ruling. We, as parents, thought that the school was legally obligated to protect our kids, and we vow to try with everything that we have to make that happen."

    The Longs' lawyer, W. Winton Briggs, told WRCB in a statement:

    "This outrageous ruling and application of the law needs to be exposed. The decision is shocking in that the judge found that Tyler was the subject of ‘severe, nearly constant bullying.' The case came to rest on the exceedingly high standard constituting Deliberate Indifference, which needs to be reformed to protect our children.”

    Murray County school officials did not immediately respond to msnbc.com requests for comments.

    After Murphy’s ruling, defense attorney Martha Pearson said school officials were “extremely pleased with the result,” the Daily Citizen of Dalton reported.

    The film "Bully" features a town meeting hosted by WRCB in Chatsworth in 2009. The film also traces bullying incidents involving other families from around the United States.

    The Longs also took their anti-bullying case to national television, appearing with Ellen DeGeneres on “Ellen” in March with their twins, Troy and Teryn, who they said are still bullied at school even after Tyler’s death. “Bully” filmmaker Lee Hirsh also appeared.

     

     

    Msnbc.com's Jim Gold contributed to this article. Follow him on Facebook here.

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  • Drunken grandparents use SUV to tow girl in toy car, deputies say

    Sarasota County Sheriff's Office | WFLA

    The deputy who stopped the procession said the toy car was attached to the SUV with two dog leashes.

    By NBCMiami.com

    Two drunken grandparents were arrested for using their vehicle to pull their 7-year-old granddaughter in a toy car, the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office said.


    Belinda and Paul Berloni were arrested on Sunday after a deputy in a marked patrol car saw the SUV pulling a "small plastic hot wheels car" along an access road, authorities said. The vehicle was going about five to 10 miles per hour, the probable cause affidavit said.

    The girl was wearing a bathing suit with no protective gear, authorities said. The toy car was attached to the SUV with two dog leashes tied to the trailer hitch, the affidavit said.

    Read the original report at NBCMiami.com

    Paul Berloni, 49, smelled of alcohol and his eyes were bloodshot and watery, the affidavit said. When asked for his driver's license, he said it had been revoked for 10 years for a DUI. He also told authorities he had two or three drinks, authorities said. He later said it was more but wasn't specific, the affidavit said.

    Sarasota County Sheriff's Office | WFLA

    Belinda and Paul Berloni

    Belinda Berloni, 47, was in the cargo area with the rear hatch open cheering the little girl on, the affidavit said. She was also intoxicated and said she had a few drinks, authorities said.

    She "also stated that she understood that it was dangerous to drag a child behind the vehicle but stated they were just having fun and had been doing it all day," the affidavit said.

    Belinda Berloni's son, who is the girl's father, arrived and was upset with his mother. He also said that he believed they had a drinking problem that may have affected their decision making, the affidavit said.

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    "The defendant and co-defendant failed to provide adequate supervision for the child and put the child in a situation that could have easily resulted in great bodily harm, permanent disfigurement and even death," the affidavit said.

    Sarasota County Sheriff's Office | WFLA

    The deputy who stopped the grandparents said the grandmother was in the back of the SUV calling encouragement to the 7-year-old girl.

    Paul Berloni refused to take a field sobriety test and was being held on $7,500 bond on Monday, a jail official said. He faces charges that include a fourth DUI offense, driving with a suspended license and cruelty toward a child. Belinda Berloni was released from jail Monday on supervised release and faces a child cruelty charge.

    It wasn't immediately known if they had attorneys.

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