Author Topic: tampa bay academy  (Read 16473 times)

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Offline Ursus

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Re: Man Sentenced To Probation For Fatal Hit-And-Run
« Reply #90 on: November 25, 2009, 11:08:29 AM »
Quote from: "Ursus"
Ugh. There is no justice.

Check out the accompanying video news clip, and try telling me there isn't something that really reeks of small town corruption here.

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cfnews13.com
Man Sentenced To Probation For Fatal Hit-And-Run
Thursday, April 30, 2009 1:29:50 PM
Reported By Heather Sorentrue



Rhonda Conard, the mother of Megan Hensley and her daughter in the courtroom during sentencing (4/29)

Local Video News Coverage: Probation Not Enough For Family

TAVARES -- It was an emotional day in court for a Lake County family as they heard the driver accused of hitting their daughter and leaving her to die on the side of the road will get off with probation.

News 13 was there when Rhonda Conard, the mother of the Megan Hensley, 14, told the judge the plea deal was not enough to punish the driver.

The crash happened in May 2008. It took officers seven months to track down the driver Paul Wright, 44.

Hensley’s family is livid with the State Attorney's Office and said this case should have gone to trial.

"I'm saddened that the judicial system let me down, let Megan down. Because this is what this is for, for her. And it's like the criminals have more rights than the victims do nowadays," Conard said.

The judge agreed in the courtroom that Wright's punishment is light.

Wright will get seven years of probation and have to wear a GPS bracelet for two of those years.

He also will likely lose his right to drive indefinitely.

The plea deal requires Wright to visit Hensley's gravesite once a year, as well as write apology letters to the family.

Wright could have faced a maximum of 35 years.

News 13 spoke with the prosecutors who said based on the legal facts of the case, they did the best they could.


© 2009, Central Florida News 13, LLC.
I've watched the news clip a couple of times, and some things just don't add up.

What I just don't get is HOW -- in the 11th hour, during the pre-trial hearing -- Paul Wright maintains that he actually did stop after his car hit her (and she flew 6 ft. off the road into a telephone pole), and that he was waved on by a Groveland (name?) police officer who had stopped to check if everything was okay.

This is simply not believable.

It was mentioned (in the news clip) that it was not clear how far from the scene Wright had allegedly stopped. Does this mean that it was possibly the next town over? Is there no communication between police departments in neighboring towns?

Moreover, why wouldn't this police officer, not to mention Paul Wright himself, have come forward with this evidence at some point in the intervening seven months since the accident? I guess Wright was too busy trying to fix his car with spray point, eh?

Personally, I find it more than a little suspicious that this attempted alibi for moral culpability ... just comes to light now, at this juncture of the tragic saga.
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »
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Offline Anonymous

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Re: tampa bay academy
« Reply #91 on: November 25, 2009, 01:22:19 PM »
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« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »

Offline Anonymous

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Re: tampa bay academy
« Reply #92 on: November 25, 2009, 03:22:50 PM »
F U C K
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »

Offline Anonymous

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Re: tampa bay academy
« Reply #93 on: November 27, 2009, 10:43:38 AM »
ANAL CONSPIRACY
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »

Offline Anonymous

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Re: tampa bay academy
« Reply #94 on: December 06, 2009, 03:10:39 AM »
Patient's parent speaks out about dangers at Tampa Bay Academy
Rebecca Catalanello, Times staff writer
In Print: Saturday, December 20, 2008

TAMPA — Sharon Meyer listened with more than passing interest this week to news that an east Hillsborough County mental health facility was being shut down by the state.
She wasn't surprised.
Her 16-year-old daughter was among those living at Tampa Bay Academy. The girl had been there a year and, at least three times, the state has investigated claims of abuse or neglect against her.
The Department of Children and Families substantiated one claim — that a staff member at the Riverview residential treatment center choked the girl.
"My daughter is coming out of there 10 times worse than when she entered," said Meyer, founder of the Foundation for Large Families, an Internet support group for adoptive parents.
Meyer offered a glimpse of what it is like for parents who, at wit's end, turn to professionals for help, only to discover even more cause for worry.
Tampa Bay Academy, one of 45 residential treatment centers in the state, is fighting to stay open in the wake of findings by the Agency for Health Care Administration that the 20-year-old facility is rife with problems that include unreported sex assaults by minors.
The Agency for Health Care Administration ordered a moratorium on admissions there and, by Friday, had moved 17 of the 54 residents, agency spokeswoman Shelisha Durden said.
Andrew Rock, an attorney for the Academy, declined to respond to Meyer's statements about the school.
Rock appealed to the 2nd District Court of Appeals on Wednesday to stop the state's efforts to close it down, arguing in part that the claims are unfounded.
"While it's under the consideration of the court, we think it's appropriate not to try to litigate it in the press," he said.
Meyer said her daughter was admitted to the program after being diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, a condition that began manifesting itself about the age of 10. The illness eventually made it unsafe for the girl, who had been adopted at birth, to be around the other children in the family, Meyer said.
Meyer was thankful Tampa Bay Academy could help her daughter, who she believes to be a danger. At one point her daughter got into a scuffle with staff members, and one employee was punched and another pushed.
But in the time the girl has been at the facility, Meyer has had numerous occasions to question the level and quality of supervision and safety there:
• When the girl entered, she didn't have scars. Now, she has what Meyer described as nine large gashes on her arms.
• The girl became seriously ill after staff members administered Haldol to the girl, though the parents repeatedly advised it would cause an adverse reaction.
In April, the girl's father rushed to her aid and took her to an emergency room after being summoned to the campus by a staff member who said they couldn't reach any of the center's medical staff. Bob Meyer found the girl drooling and barely able to walk, a condition the parents said doctors attributed to the drug.
• Though the teenager has been there for a year, it was about five months before the family started receiving treatment reports from Tampa Bay Academy. It was six months before she started getting report cards, she said.
• Her daughter once disappeared from the facility for five hours.
• Her daughter had such easy access to medication that she repeatedly stole and took other people's prescribed drugs.
• Meyer said that on one occasion, she was advised that a former female staff member came back to the campus, kissed her daughter and told her that pictures of the girl decorate her house — a situation that prompted other staffers to intervene.
"I think it's even more widespread than they're reporting," Meyer said of the charges against the residential treatment center.
Terry Field, a DCF spokesman, said a cursory review of abuse and neglect investigations at the Academy turned up at least 30 complaints in the past year.
Though two pending 2006 lawsuits against Tampa Bay Academy allege child-on-child sex abuse at the facility, neither DCF nor the Agency for Health Care Administration said they were aware of the lawsuits until this week.
The Health Care Administration, which has been licensing state residential treatment programs since 2006, said its most recent investigation was prompted by an anonymous complaint.
State law does not require residential treatment centers to report such litigation to the licensing agency, said Health Care Administration officials Laura MacLafferty and Polly Weaver.
That's something state Sen. Ronda Storms, R-Valrico, said needs to change.
"There needs to be a thorough review — not just of this facility or of what went wrong," she said. "We need to analyze and assess the other facilities that are intensive therapy facilities. How can we prevent this in the future?"
Altogether, there are just 743 beds available in Florida for children under the age of 18 who require the level of intensive mental health care provided by residential treatment centers.
A firm number on the length of the waiting list was not available Thursday or Friday, but lawyers say the need is great.
Nancy Bostock, a Pinellas County commissioner who has personal experience navigating mental health treatment programs for kids, said the stories coming out of Tampa Bay Academy are worrisome to any parent who has felt the need to entrust their child into the care of professionals.
"Any time you put a lot of troubled kids together, you're going to have troubling behaviors," she said. "But that's why we sent our kids to (places like) Tampa Bay Academy."
Rebecca Catalanello can be reached at [email protected] or (813) 226-3383.
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »

Offline punkrockmissy

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Re: tampa bay academy
« Reply #95 on: July 23, 2013, 11:05:07 PM »
as a former resident of tba I am very sad to hear they are closed. I was there 2001-2003 just before I turned 18 I was released I rember that place as my home the one place where no matter how much I pushed staff away and I mean spitting, bitting, hitting and cutting with my words they always forgave me and kept loving me. for the time when I came of age and had to leave I cried becuse I had found a home. before tba I had been kicked out of every foster home,group home and even treatment centers tba kept me. I jumped off a roof of one treatment center when I was on one to one that is a place that needs to be shut down not tba. I was very troubled and no I wasn't perfect when I left it took years to fix my life but today I am a married woman with a amazing daughter that I can give her every thing I never had and I look back on tba and many staff with very fond memorys even with all my craziness they loved me. these judgmently people have no idea what staff deal with.i was the exsplosive child that went off for the smallest reasons and got the borad the shots and the lock down hall. I read someone say theres a reason a kid would go off for 5 hours and that's not true! the children are sick and don't need a reason speaking from exprince here people. im so sorry for all the ignorant comments to the staff at tba you helped mold me ansd i am greatful for all of you
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Offline Whooter

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Re: tampa bay academy
« Reply #96 on: July 24, 2013, 09:22:04 AM »
Quote from: "punkrockmissy"
as a former resident of tba I am very sad to hear they are closed. I was there 2001-2003 just before I turned 18 I was released I rember that place as my home the one place where no matter how much I pushed staff away and I mean spitting, bitting, hitting and cutting with my words they always forgave me and kept loving me. for the time when I came of age and had to leave I cried becuse I had found a home. before tba I had been kicked out of every foster home,group home and even treatment centers tba kept me. I jumped off a roof of one treatment center when I was on one to one that is a place that needs to be shut down not tba. I was very troubled and no I wasn't perfect when I left it took years to fix my life but today I am a married woman with a amazing daughter that I can give her every thing I never had and I look back on tba and many staff with very fond memorys even with all my craziness they loved me. these judgmently people have no idea what staff deal with.i was the exsplosive child that went off for the smallest reasons and got the borad the shots and the lock down hall. I read someone say theres a reason a kid would go off for 5 hours and that's not true! the children are sick and don't need a reason speaking from exprince here people. im so sorry for all the ignorant comments to the staff at tba you helped mold me ansd i am greatful for all of you

Thank you punkrockmissy for sharing your story.  It is nice to hear more than one side and I have always believed that staff members have the best interest of the children at heart regardless of the program they are in.  I wish that more people would express this and other more positive aspects of their stay at various schools.



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« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »