This story is heart breaking.
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Police investigate 'horrific' child abuse case[/size]
Police: Three-year-old girl had broken bones, abuse-related injuries
By Don Lehman
dlehman@poststar.com
Tuesday, July 22, 2008 11:23 AM EDT
QUEENSBURY — The discovery of a badly injured, partially clothed toddler wandering in traffic on Route 9 on Saturday has led to the arrest of the girl's mother and a 15-year-old boy in what police called a "horrific" child abuse case.
The 3-year-old girl was in foster care Monday, after spending parts of two days in Glens Falls Hospital for treatment of a broken arm, a broken collarbone, numerous bruises and bites and severe injuries from sexual abuse.
An investigation Saturday led to the arrest of the girl's mother, Helen M. Prince, 33, a South Carolina resident who had been staying recently at the Budget Inn on Route 9, and Prince's boyfriend's 15-year-old son.
The 15-year-old was charged with felony counts of assault, reckless endangerment and aggravated sexual abuse that accuse him of causing the child's injuries. Warren County Sheriff's Lt. C. Shawn Lamouree said the teen abused the girl at the motel in Queensbury.
Prince faces misdemeanor counts of endangering the welfare of a child and reckless endangerment for allegedly failing to safeguard the child. The reckless endangerment charge accuses her of not seeking prompt medical care despite the girl's obvious injuries, which included two black eyes, facial cuts and bruises and injuries to her genitalia.
The 15-year-old was charged as a juvenile offender because of his age. Those younger than 16 are generally charged as juvenile offenders in New York, but there are designated serious felonies -- including first-degree rape -- for which a person younger than 16 can be prosecuted as an adult.
Warren County District Attorney Kate Hogan said her office and the Sheriff's Office were trying to determine whether the teen could be prosecuted as an adult.
Prince was being held in Warren County Jail for lack of bail, while the 15-year-old was sent to a juvenile detention center in Canaan, southeast of Albany.
Police began investigating the case at about 11:15 a.m. Saturday after getting calls about the 3-year-old crossing Route 9 near Outback Steakhouse by herself, clad in only a diaper and T-shirt. Two motorists who stopped and removed the girl from the road called police, who discovered the girl's numerous injuries.
Prince said she had left the girl unattended for a few minutes in the Budget Inn, where the group had been staying, and was looking for her when she spotted police with the girl across the road at the Red Roof Inn. The family had been staying at the Red Roof Inn before taking a room at the other motel, police said.
Both Prince and the 15-year-old appeared in Warren County Family Court on Monday -- Prince to answer child neglect accusations as the Warren County Department of Social Services sought to remove the child from her custody, and the teen for a detention hearing.
Family Court Judge J. Timothy Breen ordered that the girl remain in foster care.
Prince had no obvious reaction, but some of the social services caseworkers and lawyers in court appeared near tears as Breen read the extensive list of the child's injuries. Breen also said Prince had admitted to police she had recently been giving the girl "large amounts of Benadryl for no apparent medical reason."
The judge said records showed the 15-year-old's 12-year-old brother -- who also was at the motel with Prince in recent weeks -- admitted sexually abusing the girl as well.
Lamouree said those allegations are under investigation, but it appears that abuse happened in South Carolina.
In a five-page written statement filed in Queensbury Town Court, Prince told police she came to the area in early July as she and her fiance sought to move closer to his children in Vermont.
The fiance, whose name was not released and who is not the biological father of the 3-year-old, stayed in South Carolina while Prince sought a permanent home for them, according to court records.
Prince had been working at Scotty's Truck Stop in Wilton since July 14 and had been leaving the 3-year-old in the care of the 15-year-old and 12-year-old while she worked, officials said.
She told sheriff's Investigator Doug David that she noticed the girl had been injured in recent days, but said the 15-year-old told her the toddler had fallen and hit her face on a tub. Prince said she believed redness to the toddler's eyes was a reaction to chlorine from the pool.
"He told me that when she was in the bathroom trying to get out of her bathing suit, she fell," Prince is quoted as saying.
Prince told police she left the room for "not even five minutes" Saturday to check on a package that was supposed to be sent to her when the girl got out of the room. The boys were eating hot dogs on a bed and watching TV, she is quoted as saying.
Neither Prince nor the 15-year-old would discuss the case as they left Family Court on Monday. Prince's boyfriend, the father of the 15-year-old, was in court and said he believed his son was illegally questioned by police but said he had no further comment on the advice of his family's lawyer, Rita Young.
Young also would not discuss the case.
Lamouree said sheriff's officers were particularly struck by the fact that Prince didn't once ask them about the girl's condition while she was being questioned Saturday by investigators.
He said the girl is expected to recover from her physical injuries.
"We're hoping she's young enough that she won't have many memories of this," he said.
http://www.poststar.com/articles/2008/07/22/news/local/13758907.txt
Helen's myspace: http://www.myspace.com/tigger8fan
The 3 year-old's dad's myspace: http://www.myspace.com/shortie11136
The comments to the story posted here http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/news/breaking_news/story/528754.html are unreal. The entire family comes out the woodwork. There are allegations of sexual abuse, drug abuse, and incest galore. :2eyesbleed: