Timothy Cramer-Child Abuse-Awaiting Trial-Victim: 2 Yr Old
Central Fla. Woman Gets 10 Years For Child Abuse POSTED: 6:22 am EST January 6, 2006 UPDATED: 7:31 am EST January 6, 2006 TAVARES, Fla. -- A Clermont woman charged with locking her then 2-year-old son in a closet and starving him has been sentenced to 10 years in prison. Lake County Sheriff's Office photo of closet where 2-year-old was allegedly forced to sleep. Patrice Currie, 24, pleaded guilty to aggravated child abuse and agreed to testify against her boyfriend who pleaded not guilty to the same charge. The child weighed 22 pounds and suffered from "chronic malnutrition," when he was found last January, according to an arrest affidavit. Normal weight for that age would be about 32 pounds, according to a chart from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The boy was often locked in a closet, slapped for failing at potty training and denied food, according to a sheriff's report. He is now living with relatives in Pennsylvania. A couple who baby-sat the boy alerted the Department of Children & Families. Currie's boyfriend, Timothy Cramer, sent a letter from jail to Assistant State Attorney Jonathan Olson saying the boy was never mistreated. "Myself and Ms. Currie would give up our meals to be sure her son had enough to eat," Cramer wrote. "(The child) was and still is very loved by myself and his mother." Cramer also offered to enroll in parenting classes at his own expense if prosecutors dropped the charges. His trial is scheduled for next week but likely will be postponed. Currie wrote an apology to her son this summer and sent the notes to relatives, asking that they hold onto the letters until he could read. They instead forwarded them to investigators and prosecutors. "I'm sorry that I failed as your mommy," she wrote in one. http://www.local6.com/news/5881063/detail.html

Man Found Guilty Of Child Abuse Where Boy Was Starved POSTED: 4:45 pm EDT May 5, 2006 TAVARES, Fla. -- A Lake County jury said a man did nothing to help a 2-year-old boy who was starved and locked in a closet. Now that man is facing 30 years in prison. It took the jury an hour to return the verdict against Timothy Cramer. Cramer said he wasn't responsible for the boy starving because he wasn't the parent, even though he lived with the boy and his mother. He said he was just the babysitter. Cramer, 25, stared straight ahead as his fate was decided. "The defendant is guilty of aggravated child abuse," the verdict was read Friday. Now Cramer and his girlfriend Patrice Currie, who is the boy's mother, are both guilty of locking up a 2-year-old boy in a closet last January and starving him. Prosecutors said it happened at least five or six times for extended periods of time. On the stand, Cramer told prosecutors he should have done more to prevent the mother from abusing the boy, but Cramer said his role was limited because he wasn't the father. Last February he told a Lake County deputy he was much more involved. "I tried to raise him just like my own," he said. Jurors saw the whole interview that contradicted much of what Cramer said on the stand. On the video he nods that he did lock the boy up. Ultimately, jurors agreed that even though the boy's mother was the one who ordered the abuse, Cramer was equally as responsible. The maximum sentence is 30 years for the crime, but his attorneys think because he doesn't have a criminal record he may only get nine years. As for the young boy who was starved and locked in the closet, he's been adopted by his maternal grandparents and is now living in Pennsylvania. http://www.wftv.com/news/9168577/detail.html