Conone finally admitted to his actions and told investigators he had been doing this since January. The reason? It got him excited. “He stated that he does this because of the excitement of being able to do it and get away with it with the parents right there,” said Sgt. John Hurst of the special victims bureau. “He’ll just strike them in the head and just turn around and walk away.” He also stated he never thought of abducting the kids or harming them in any serious fashion. He just like popping them. Conone has no record and was married for 42 years before his wife divorced him in 2007. She told reporters that he was a manic-depressive who would refuse to take his meds. Conone was charged with two counts of assault, a judge set bond at $150,000 and ordered him to stay out of all Walmarts.

Now don’t get me wrong, I do not condone this type of behavior…and God knows if some old man ever punched my 6-year-old in the head I would probably be going to jail for bitch-slapping his dentures into the electronics department…but I cannot help but giggle a little when I think of some old man shuffling around Walmart randomly knocking on the noggins of little kids. I know, I am sick…but how many of you have had the displeasure of finding yourself in a Walmart while some unsupervised kids were running around? You never thought of it? Ever?

Maybe Conone can hook up with Roger Stephens after this is all over with. Compare notes. Form a gang.

I’ve been involved in animal rescue in various capacities for probably going on 15 years now, and high on my list of “Classes of People Who Generally Are Batshit Crazy” is animal rescue people. I know a few people working and/or volunteering in the field who are not only dedicated, compassionate, bright, thoughtful, and generous but also adept at dealing with other human beings. Overall, though, it has been my experience that if you put the “animal lovers” in a room with other “animal lovers,” within minutes there will be accusations of wrongdoing, condemnations of certain practices and procedures, charges of power maneuvering, and sometimes even some slamming of hands on tabletops and shrieking. Talk about “saving the animals!” and people lose their fucking minds.

It is this rather jaded perspective and personal observations of how unfortunately common it is for the animals to suffer when the pissing matches start that led me to review all the currently available reports on this case. The only document dealing even somewhat comprehensively with the conditions and circumstances leading to Cotromano’s arrest is the press release issued by the TEARS board, but it mainly raised more questions than answers: If the police, federal and state agencies, and the board had been getting complaints about the condition of the animals and possible mismanagement of funds as far back as 2008, what the hell took so long? Why did it take until January to “realize” that 50 sick cats were living in inappropriate conditions and that Cotromano’s repeated December requests for additional food was because 68 dogs were suffering from intestinal parasites? Is Terra Cotromano such a one-person force of nature that she was able to successfully block all attempts to understand what was happening at TEARS in terms of both funds and animal conditions? For what did she use that $90,000 in cash? And aren’t there going to be any charges related to that “missing” money?

As you can imagine, Cotromano says she is innocent and that her dismissal as executive director and the charges stem from power struggles with others. Fortunately for her, TEARS had signed a 99-year lease with her, so even though she was out of a job, she was still living in the trailer on the TEARS property as of her Thursday arrest.

The vast majority of the animals removed from the TEARS compound required medical treatment, but most are reported to have recovered.

Apparently, such painful teacher-to-student commentary is not new, as it seems that Clement’s daughter was first dubbed to be such a “loser” last year, at which point Clement visited the school principal. As Clement tells it, the principal said she would handle the situation. But I’m guessing something went awry, as it was only a few weeks later that the above-noted written “-20%” remark physically entered the Clement home.

Clement’s daughter has since been removed from Roland’s class, and the school district is reported to be looking into the matter.

Media reports suggest that other parents defend Roland’s “teaching style,” as it is merely his way of “relating” to his students. As of this writing, none of those parents has agreed to allow his or her name or image to be disseminated.

Frankly, that shit like this might ever be construed as appropriate feedback on a student’s performance makes me glad I don’t have any school-age children. Further, if a teacher wants to relate to his or her students, wouldn’t it be more politically astute to go with a simple “OMG WTF LOL FRILL!” rather than a blanket condemnation of the pupil as a person (especially considering that his students must think he’s older than hair, having graduated from high school in 1977)? And am I the only person who thinks Mr. Roland should be relieved he didn’t have Phoebe Prince in his class?

I say this to Mr. Roland: -100% for being a LOSER and an enthusiastic finger-and-thumb “L” on the forehead. Further, a week of detention and a paddling for the Smash Mouth earworm.

Interesting side note: while searching for articles for this story, I found multiple submissions to Yahoo Answers regarding this case and Rex Roland. Some ask the obvious (“Can a teacher motivate a student by calling him a ‘loser’?”), but others seem to have been posted with more ominous intent and have since been deleted (“Rex Roland is a Pedophile in Buncombe County?” and “Rex Roland is a child abuser in Buncombe County?”). Yet another tool in the arsenal of those who want to harass people they hate on-line, FTW!

Madigan is accused of force-feeding the child so harshly that her tongue was lacerated. He covered the child’s mouth and nose with his hands to prevent her from crying and consistently caused bruises to her arms and torso. On another occasion he is accused of cutting the girl’s chin while disciplining her after a potty-training accident. In November, Madigan repeatedly tried to stop the child from crying by picking her up and covering her mouth and nose, causing her to gasp for air. When she didn’t stop crying, he dropped her on the floor, causing her to hit her head and suffer extended dizziness. Madigan was charged with one count of second-degree child assault and one count of first-degree criminal mistreatment. He is being held on $250,000 bail.  The Big Pussy has a couple MySpace pages. On the first one, Big Puppy, he claims to be married and a proud-parent among other things and on the second one, Irish Puppy, he claims to be single.

He’d spent 26 days in the pokey before trial and probably would have ended up with probation except for one thing – the jackass braggart has a big mouth. While awaiting the final outcome of his case, Brandon place a call to 101 WRIF to brag about his conquest and whine about getting busted. “This girl is a total nut job,” he said over the airwaves. “She decided to tell the cops and say she didn’t know she was being recorded.” Brandon claims the woman went to police not because she was surreptitiously recorded and later blackmailed, but because he wouldn’t leave his woman for her. An official with the prosecutor’s office heard Brandon’s interview with the DJ’s and did a little recording of his/her own. After the judge heard the recording, he ordered Brandon to an additional 63 days in jail and three years probation. “He makes light of a lot of things,” said Macomb County Prosecutor Eric Smith.  “He essentially makes fun of the victim in this case, clearly showing a lack of remorse.” Remorse isn’t the only thing he’s lacking…

(no worries, if this gets removed by Youtube, we got a copy)

When Estrada was arraigned, Judge Kate Rosenthal noted he had a “terrible history of arrests.” Court papers show Estrada told authorities that they were not trying to hurt the cat and “it was a joke and the dryer was on cool.” They also indicate the 16-year-old Solvay High School student, who is facing permitting abuse charges, stated that he did not realize he could get into trouble for what they did. Wow, I am shocked…SHOCKED. An animal abuser with a history of arrests at 18 and another who did not realize it was wrong? They are breaking the stereotype of animal abusers being intelligent people. I’m not going to lie and say that me and my friends never did any dumb shit as teens…hell I am pretty sure some of it may even be on film. But not once did we ever sit around and decide to torture an animal or stick anything near an animal’s asshole. Well..one kid did…but he was a freak.

And Erik? Enjoy the publicity. In the immortal words of the REAL Erik Estrada:

Since the incident was primarily an altercation between Lopez and her brother, the infant girl was not removed at the time. Lopez posted $50,000 bail in the case and was scheduled to appear in court in April. Kamilah’s father,  Joseph Russell Jr., 22, had left the apartment shortly before Kamilah was killed. He called Kamilah’s death “a devastating moment in my life” and said Kamilah was “his love, his life.” He is also the father of the 7-month-old and the unborn child.

Kamilah Russell

Odd charge, I thought. I know that I am usually overwhelmed by all the emails and phone calls asking for my expert legal advice because, let’s face it, I’m as smart as I am pretty. But to be honest I wasn’t aware of “suspicion” charges because this is the first story that I can recollect where I have ever typed up a story regarding someone being charged with one. I guess I could Google it consult my library of law books, but anyone got any info on suspicion based charges? Is it basically the same as saying he was arrested on a charge of indecent exposure? I mean obviously police are suspicious as they brought him in so why add the descriptor?

Anyway, on top of that charge, Freeman was also charged with possession of a controlled substance after police found cocaine in his hotel room. Freeman is a certified public accountant and managing director at CBIZ Accounting, Tax & Advisory Services in Los Angeles. Well, he may not be any longer. You can check out a library of video reports regarding the flasher, including some sketches that look an awful lot like Mr. Freeman.