South Carolina Injury Lawyer Blog

Your South Carolina car accident attorneys read an interesting article in yesterday's Post and Courier that discusses an alleged illegal sex trade in North Charleston. After weeks of alleged force enslavement and months under federal supervision a 20-year-old immigrant from just outside Mexico City will soon be able to return home because authorities no longer her to testify against a North Charleston woman arrested in connection with a suspected human trafficking case. The reason the immigrant woman is longer needed to testify is because the 28-year-old North Charleston woman, also originally from Mexico, plead guilty to one of the four charges against her.

The 28-year-old woman admitted in federal court, on Tuesday, to harboring an illegal immigrant. However, she did not admit to receiving any financial gain from concealing the 20-year-old. She faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison, a $250,00 fine, and three years of supervised release. If she had admitted to receiving financial gain from the illegal immigrant, she could have faced twice the amount of time in prison. Her sentencing hearing has yet to be determined.

For admitting to the harboring an illegal immigrant charge, prosecutors will dismiss the charges of importing an alien for an immoral purpose, bringing in and harboring aliens, transporting for prostitution, and failing to file a factual statement about an alien. Each of these charges carries a maximum prison sentence of 10 years, 3 years of supervised release, and a $250,000 fine.

Continue reading "Illegal Mexican Immigrant Harbored in North Charleston, Captor Accepts Plea Deal and Immigrant Allowed to Return Home" »

On the early morning of February 12th, allegedly, a homeless man entered an unlocked door of Gentiva Health Services, a Mt. Pleasant hospice, walked across the hall, into an 86-year-old woman’s room, and sexually assaulted her. After hearing a scream, a nurse rushed to the room and found the homeless man atop the helpless hospice resident.

Since the attack, the victim’s daughter filed a suit in federal district court in Charleston, contending the hospice failed to provide “reasonable and necessary security.” The suit accuses the hospice’s operators of negligence after the aforementioned attacker gained unchallenged entry into the facility and eventually to the dying woman’s room. The suit seeks unspecified actual and punitive damages.

Charleston nursing home neglect attorneys know the residents and families of residents in hospice facilities are dependent on the caregivers in that setting to provide quality care. When nurses, nurses' aids, doctors, or administrators in a nursing home fail to care for residents' well-being in a manner consistent with standards applicable to that setting, the result may be pain and suffering, or even wrongful death.

Continue reading "Elderly Woman’s Daughter Files Negligence Suit Against Mt. Pleasant Hospice" »

Charleston child sexual abuse attorneys recently learned that a South Carolina charter school teacher was arrested and charged with having sex with a 15-year-old student high school student. The teacher allegedly had sex with his 15-year-old student in a wooded area near the school’s premises on March 20, 2010.

The teacher taught business and computer skills at Calhoun Falls Charter School. He was charged with criminal sexual conduct with a minor and preforming a lewd act on a minor. He was arrested and charged after one of the young girl’s family members allegedly found conversations between him and the child. After discovering the conversations, the family member contacted police. Police investigated the conversations and then made the arrest.

The teacher is currently on administrative leave from Calhoun Falls Charter School while he awaits trial in Abbeville County’s jail. The young girl’s name has not been released in order to protect her privacy.

Source: The Post and Courier- “Charter school teacher arrested.” April 1, 2010.

South Carolina child injury and death lawyers would like to remind parents to talk to their children about appropriate and inappropriate interactions with adults and school staff. A new charge was brought the janitor formerly employed by Harleyville-Ridgeville Elementary School janitor.

The janitor was accused of writing a three-page love letter to an 11 year old female student. January 7, he was charged with delinquency of a minor after authorities investigated allegations of a love letter given to a female student. He is currently in Dorchester Country Detention Center being held without bail.

The new charge the janitor faces is first degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor, after allegations were made that he had sexual conduct with the same 11 year old female student. The alleged sexual conduct is reported to have taken place before the janitor wrote the three-page love letter. Dorchester County School District 4 spokeswoman said that Williams is no longer an employee of the school district.

Source: The Post and Courier- “Ex-janitor charged with sex crime.” March 5, 2010.

South Carolina sexual abuse attorneys want to warn locals about an alleged fondling case that occurred on a lowcountry bus. Gerald Limehouse, an employee of transportation company Tri-County Link, was charged with third-degree criminal sexual conduct. According to the records of the Dorchester County Sherrifs office, Limehouse was arrested on Wednesday, February 17, 2010.

The sexually assaulted a South Carolina woman, whose identity has not been revealed, is a 26-year old woman who took the Limehouse’s route home daily from the adult day center she frequented. The woman’s family said that she is “mentally challenged,” and they knew that something was wrong when she told them that the bus driver and her had a “secret.”

Limehouse was arraigned and has been released after posting $100,000 in bail on Friday, February 19, 2010. Parents told authorities that their daughter told them that her and the bus driver had a special route. She then told them that Limehouse had kissed her and fondled her multiple times in the early weeks of this February. Tri-County Link has not yet released a statement and cannot be reached for comments.

Source: The Post and Courier- “Bus driver accused in fondling case.” February 23, 2010.

South Carolina sexual abuse lawyers want you to know that Circuit Judge Roger Young showed now mercy during Robert Brooks sentencing. Brooks was arrested in September 2008, on a third-degree criminal sexual assault charge. The North Charleston native had sex with the woman 2008 and went unreported for some time, until the victim told a staff member of the group home she was residing in about the assault.

The twist in the story is the most disheartening of all. The woman had an IQ of 48; therefore, she is legally unable to consent to having sex. Assistant Solicitor Tyler Whitacker explained that cases like this normally go unreported because the victims have a hard time articulating what occurred and many times do not have the ability to put into words details to incriminate their attacker.

Typically when the accused pleads guilty to a charge they receive a break in their sentencing. Not in this case. Brooks pled guilty to the third-degree criminal sexual conduct charge but did not receive a break. He was sentenced to ten years in jail. Brooks record is also tarnished with a lewd act against a minor in 1995. In ten years from now when Brooks is released he will undergo examination under the Sexually Violent Predators Act, which will determine if he is fit to be released back into society.

Source: The Post and Courier- “Man Pleads Guilty in Sex Crimes Case.” January 17, 2010.

South Carolina sexual assault lawyers know that every parent’s worst nightmare is that their child will be hurt by a sexual predator. Unfortunately, we all too often hear about children being mistreated or abused by strangers, caretakers, and even family friends. Child sexual abuse is especially appalling because of the serious long-term effects it can have on a child’s physical and mental health.

A school janitor was recently charged in connection with a sexual assault that took place at the Community House Middle School in North Carolina. Police arrested 63-year-old Christopher Gordon and charged him with sexual misdemeanor battery. The victim is a 12-year-old student.

Gordon was hired by the school in October of 2005 and was later promoted to head custodian of the school in January of 2007.

Gordon has been suspended without pay until he will be back in court on December 11, 2009. This is the third time this school year that an employee in North Carolina’s Charlotte-Mecklenberg School District has been charged with sexual assault.

Source: Live 5 News-“School janitor facing sex assault charge”- October 13, 2009.