New agency takes over homeless abuse inquiry

Justice Department's civil rights unit leads investigation

DECEMBER 18, 2009 10:12 a.m. (0)

The civil rights unit of the U.S. Justice Department has taken charge of a 7-week-old misconduct investigation involving allegations that at least four officers while working with the Greenville Police Department abused homeless people.

U.S. Attorney Walt Wilkins said this week lawyers assigned to the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, headquartered in Washington, D.C., are in Greenville and are making decisions involving both the investigation and the prosecution of the case.

“They are calling the shots,” he said. “We are providing the support.”  Continue reading...

 

Homeless Abuse Update

Feds  charged an officer in connection with alleged abuse of homeless in Greenville

MARCH 26, 2010 3:13 p.m. (3)

A former Greenville police officer has waived his right to have evidence presented before a federal grand jury and is scheduled to appear before U.S. Magistrate William M. Catoe Tuesday at 11 a.m. to enter a guilty plea to a federal civil rights violation, the acting U.S. attorney said.

Matthew Scott Jowers is accused of using excessive force in connection with his role as a police officer. In documents filed by acting U.S. Attorney Kevin McDonald with the court says Jowers did grab, push and improperly restrain an individual.  Continue reading...

 

Former city officer pleads guilty to misdemeanor

More charges will be filed in the case of alleged abuse of Greenville's homeless

MARCH 30, 2010 12:58 p.m. (0)

The acting U.S. attorney said Tuesday he expects additional criminal charges to be filed in the federal investigation into the abuse of the homeless by some former Greenville police officers.

Moments after former city police officer Matthew Scott Jowers pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor civil rights violation for slamming a handcuffed homeless man into a squad car hard enough to make a dent and later wrapped his hands around the man’s neck, acting U.S. Attorney Kevin McDonald said he expected additional charges to be filed.  Continue reading...

 

Former city officers given probation

9039 Fairforest Road Prosecutor: Greenville’s police department “clean, straight arrow.”

MAY 28, 2010 9:49 a.m. (0)

9039 Fairforest Road

Two former Greenville police officers received probationary sentences Friday for depriving suspects of their civil rights in which attorneys on both sides said were isolated incidents of officers losing their cool, not targeted abuse of the homeless.

Matthew Jowers and Jeremiah Milliman were both sentenced to three years probation by federal Magistrate Judge William Catoe.  Continue reading...

 

Beating under investigation

Homeless man dies after incident, investigators have no suspects

SEPTEMBER 20, 2010 10:16 a.m. (0)

One week after the death of a homeless man who was found severely beaten and unresponsive last Tuesday morning off West Blue Ridge Drive near Cedar Lane Road in Greenville County, investigators have no suspects.

Terry Steven White, 55, died last Thursday at Greenville Memorial Hospital after lingering for two days in critical condition.

He never regained consciousness.  Continue reading...

 

Why would a mother leave her newborn son in a public restroom?

FEBRUARY 10, 2011 12:35 p.m. (1)

As a student at Bob Jones Academy, Jessie Blackham talked about how much she loved kids. She told stories about her niece and carried pictures of the girl in her wallet.

Now 24, Blackham has been charged with felony child abuse after giving birth to a boy at the Bi-Lo Center last Friday night and leaving him in the toilet.

“I’m shocked that she would do that. She was always very good with children,” said Taryn Habegger, a classmate of Blackham’s throughout elementary and high school who has kept up with her on Facebook. “I’m shocked that anybody would do that.”  Continue reading...

 

Child Abuse

It's back in the spotlight with the Blackham case

FEBRUARY 22, 2011 8:52 a.m. (0)

Every so often a case hits the headlines that rips the cover off child abuse in the Upstate; few have reverberated as loudly as the Bi-Lo baby incident, said officials who work with child abuse cases.

Jessie Blackham, a 24-year-old graduate of Bob Jones Academy from Easley, is accused of giving birth in a restroom stall at the Bi-Lo Center and then leaving her newborn son in the bowl of the toilet.

Two quick thinking cleanup personnel at the center rescued the child and Blackham now faces up to 30 years in prison for child abuse. The baby boy is recovering nicely, according to news reports.  Continue reading...

 

Baby's father identified

Baby who was abandoned in toilet now three months old

MAY 19, 2011 11:51 a.m. (0)

A DNA test has confirmed a man who called CNN Headline News’ Nancy Grace and claimed to be the father of the newborn abandoned in a Bi-Lo Center toilet in February is the baby’s father.

During a Family Court hearing last week, Jason Jones, a Berea High graduate in his mid 20s, was found to be the legal father of the now three-month-old boy, said A. Wells Black Jr., his attorney.

Jones saw the baby briefly during the DNA test and was able to hold him for the first time during a one-hour supervised visitation at the Department of Social Services office, Black said.  Continue reading...

 

New life for abandoned horses

It's where horses are welcomed, nursed back to health, and most of all, loved without condition

AUGUST 18, 2011 10:55 a.m. (0)

In Marietta, Dogwood Terrace Stables is known simply as The Barn.

And, increasingly, it’s become a place where people turn when they can no longer care for their horses.

Owner Daniel Pierce said he gets as many as three calls a week from people who want to relinquish ownership of their horses, which along with livestock are a forgotten casualty of a bad economy.  Continue reading...

 

Sheriff forms crimes against children unit

Unit will investigate all sexual assaults against children, child abuse and child neglect cases

AUGUST 18, 2011 11:11 a.m. (0)

Investigating a crime with a child victim is different than investigating a crime where the victim is an adult.

A young child might not understand the questions an investigator would normally ask an adult.

They may not know the words to describe what happened to them.  Continue reading...

 

BJU board member resigns

Alumni-circulated petition took issue with how Phelps handled abuse allegations

DECEMBER 1, 2011 7:59 p.m. (9)

The Rev. Chuck Phelps has resigned from the Bob Jones University cooperating board after a group of alumni circulated a petition asking the university to remove  Phelps because of the way the minister handled allegations that a church member raped a 15-year-old girl in his congregation.

Bob Jones III, BJU chancellor and grandson of the founder, read Phelps' letter of resignation this morning at a regularly scheduled board meeting. A statement on the university's website said Phelps did not want to "distract distract BJU from its mission."

“We are grateful to Dr. Phelps for his many years of loyal service to his alma mater as a member of the Board of Trustees,” the statement quoted  Jones as saying.  Continue reading...