Special-Ed Student Who Recorded Bullies Accused of Felony Wiretapping

[bonnie]

Special-Ed Student Who Recorded Bullies Accused of Felony Wiretapping

In Pennsylvania, a high school sophomore with developmental disabilities was convicted of a crime after recording classmates threatening to "pull down his pants"

.

After being regularly shoved and tripped, and nearly burned with a cigarette lighter, a tormented special-needs student in Pennsylvania decided to take matters into his own hands. He secretly recorded the abuse on his school-issued iPad, and his mother eventually submitted the evidence to the school’s principal. But instead of punishing the teenage tyrants caught on tape, administrators decided to call the police, who threatened the 15-year-old boy with felony wiretapping, but later reduced the charge to disorderly conduct. He was found guilty on March 19.

This isn’t the first time that developmentally disabled kids have covertly recorded bullying on school grounds, but it’s the first case where the victim has been criminally convicted for doing so. At least nine such incidents occurred across the country between 2003 and 2013, often resulting in the firing of school employees, the expulsion of students and legal settlements worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. And while it shouldn’t make much of a difference, previous incidents have mostly involved parents slipping discreet spyware into their children’s pockets, rather than the child taking action.

In 2011, an Ohio couple received $300,000 after they secretly taped teachers verbally abusing their 14-year-old disabled daughter with remarks like “It’s no wonder you don’t have friends,” and in 2012, a New Jersey father posted an audio clip on YouTube of his 10-year-old autistic son getting called “a bastard” by a classroom aide.

The Pennsylvania student, a sophomore who remained unnamed in a report on BenSwann.com, was previously diagnosed with comprehension-delay disorder, anxiety disorder and ADHD. In his testimony, he claimed that he decided to record the incident in order to show his mother that he “wasn’t lying” about the ongoing abuse. “I was really having things like books slammed upside my head,” he said. “I wanted it to stop. I just felt like nothing was being done.”

The original recording was suspiciously deleted by school authorities, though as described on BenSwann.com, the boy’s mother, Shea Love, recounted it during the hearing.

According to Love, as the teacher is heard attempting to help her son with a math problem, a student says, “You should pull his pants down!” Another student replies, “No, man. Imagine how bad that (c**t) smells! No one wants to smell that (t**t).” As the recording continues, the teacher instructs the classroom that they may only talk if it pertains to math. Shortly thereafter, a loud noise is heard on the recording, which her son explained was a book being slammed down next to him after a student pretended to hit him in the head with it. When the teacher yells, the student exclaims, “What? I was just trying to scare him!” A group of boys are heard laughing.

After listening to her son’s evidence, Love eventually reported it to the South Fayette High School principal who, instead of disciplining the bullies involved, called the police to interrogate her “visibly distraught” son. When Love arrived, the principal said the student was facing felony wiretapping charges because he had made a recording in a place where there is an expectation of privacy. The officer agreed but eventually reduced the charge to disorderly conduct on the basis that the student engaged in offensive actions “which served no legitimate purpose.”

Recording laws vary from state to state, but Pennsylvania is one of just 12 states that require the consent of all parties involved. In the remaining states, consent is not mandatory as long as the person recording is present during the conversation.

Despite his emotional testimony and his mother’s pleas, the Pennsylvania student was eventually found guilty, though he plans to appeal the ruling during his next court appearance on April 29. The bullies were never punished.

AUTHOR: Elizabeth Kulze

[joeb]

This is prima facie evidence that the public school system has lost all semblance of sanity. Send your children there at the their own risk.

[CoAspen]

Can anybody find the original source of this story? So far all I have found is one internet news site/blog quoting another site of the same. Neither gives a source to the actual happening.

Before passing judgement perhaps a little more factual data should be found!!

Sensational journalism, posting?

[LifeHiscost]

Can anybody find the original source of this story? So far all I have found is one internet news site/blog quoting another site of the same. Neither gives a source to the actual happening.

Before passing judgement perhaps a little more factual data should be found!!

Sensational journalism, posting?

Perhaps this may be helpful.

http://www.vocativ.com/culture/society/s...ny-wiretapping/

God cares! Jesus saves!

[rudywoofs (Pam)]

this is the article that states names, dates, and places... source

[CoAspen]

Actually the source references the site BENSWANN and so does does the article originally posted. Benswann does not reference any one. "According to"..... can often be difficult track down or verify.

I am not saying the story isn't true, but it does seem to be 'lacking'. There is a ring of truth to it, but I have a feeling some things are being left out. Schools are in a hard place now days trying to comply with all laws and stay out of the courts. We have a litigious society and it taint because of lawyers. They simply provide the requested service...separate topic.

News articles/blogs on the internet do this cross 'referencing' quite often without any original source. Journalism may not be what is used to be, or should be, but shouldn't it be reliable? Way too much of the net news is really opinions written to look like the 'facts'. So, I never get to excited about 'net news/blogs'.

[rudywoofs (Pam)]

thought you just wanted more factoids...

The Ben Swann website had an exclusive on that story. The article I gave as a source was written after the 1st, and had more info.

The thing I find odd about the story is that a "special ed" student had the wherewithal to come up with the idea of recording his alleged abuse by other students.

[Gerr]

14 Our courts oppose the righteous,

and justice is nowhere to be found.

Truth stumbles in the streets,

and honesty has been outlawed.

15 Yes, truth is gone,

and anyone who renounces evil is attacked.

The LORD looked and was displeased

to find there was no justice.

16 He was amazed to see that no one intervened

to help the oppressed.

Tyndale House Publishers. (2007). Holy Bible: New Living Translation (3rd ed., Is 59:14–16). Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers.

[bonnie]

Sensational journalism, posting?

Hardly. With the frequency of bullying and the numbers of students that attempt or commit suicide as a result this is hardly sensational journalism.

Never would happen but it would be nice if both parents and the little bully they raised would have to stand on the steps of the school with a large sign.

"Parents,I raised a bully" Student,"I am the bully they raised"

Second offense a little jail time might be helpful

[Tom Wetmore]

Bonnie, I think you missed CoAspen's point. And that you seem not to have gotten it, or that perhaps you don't really so much care, is what feeds the whole idea of sensationalistic media. ( I can't even call it journalism...) It is really a form of fiction intended to make a point, further an agenda or propaganda, or simply to entertain or purely to make money for its producers. (However, fiction at least holds itself out as not being factual or real.)

Really, you need to read the definition - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sensationalism

The real problem is that, more so in this era than ever before, it masquerades as news or journalism as if it is factual and accurate reporting of real events. But also more so now than ever before it has truly jumped the shark beyond simply a qualitative decline, it has jumped the shark ethically and morally. While it is knowingly not factual or accurate to those behind it, it is widely perceived as if it is. And those pushing this sort of thing off on the public seem not only not to care, but intentionally take advantage of that ignorance to further there purposes that have nothing to do with news or journalism.

Your first line fits that problem. It sounds as if you really don't really care if the story is true or even accurate or not. For the greater good of highlighting the problem of bullying, the ends justifies the means.

[bonnie]

Bonnie, I think you missed CoAspen's point. And that you seem not to have gotten it, or that perhaps you don't really so much care, is what feeds the whole idea of sensationalistic media. ( I can't even call it journalism...) It is really a form of fiction intended to make a point, further an agenda or propaganda, or simply to entertain or purely to make money for its producers. (However, fiction at least holds itself out as not being factual or real.)

[LynnDel]

The diagnoses this special ed student had indicate that he was not lacking in mental ability, so I have no doubt that he would be able to come up with the recording solution on his own. Many of my special ed students with ADHD had what might have been termed "comprehension delay disorder," though that is a new one on me. It doesn't mean that they are less intelligent; it just takes them awhile to put things together, and it often affects them socially. Most of my special ed students had IQs ranging from 80 to 100, with most within the 85-95 range. Low average. They were learning handicapped due to dyslexic-type difficulties, memory, and auditory and visual processing.

[rudywoofs (Pam)]

my bad.. I wasn't aware that a dx of ADHD qualified a student for "special ed"...

[LynnDel]

ADHD doesn't, but it often comes with perceptual deficits which do.

[bonnie]

South Fayette mother wants case against bullied son to be dropped

About Adam BrandolphPicture Adam Brandolph 412-391-0927

Staff Reporter

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

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Published: Sunday, April 13, 2014, 9:00 p.m.

Updated 22 hours ago

The mother of a South Fayette High School student convicted of disorderly conduct for recording classmates bullying him wants a judge to reverse the decision and the district to apologize.

Shea Love, 40, of South Fayette questioned why school officials contacted police to discuss a possible violation of wiretap laws but refused to confront the students whose voices she says were captured on an iPad tormenting her son.

Love requested the identity of her son, 15, a sophomore diagnosed with a comprehension delay disorder, ADHD, and an anxiety disorder, be kept private out of fear of retribution.

“The whole thing has been a horrible nightmare,” Love told the Tribune-Review on Sunday. “This whole ordeal has made my son miserable.”

Asked to discuss the case, school board President Len Fornella said: “I can't comment on that.”

Other school board members, Superintendent Bille P. Rondinelli, high school principal Scott Milburn and assistant principal Aaron Skrbin did not return calls or could not be reached during the weekend. South Fayette police could not be reached.

According to a transcript of a March 19 hearing before South Fayette District Judge Maureen McGraw-Desmet, the boy said he made the seven-minute recording “because I always felt like it wasn't me being heard.”

He said classmates harassed him for several months, and even though he told his mom, he didn't have anything to show for it.

“I wanted some help,” he said. “This wasn't just a one-time thing. This always happens every day in that class.”

Love testified that the recording includes one boy telling another boy to pull her son's pants down. The teacher tells them that if what they're talking about doesn't have anything to do with math, they need to stop talking.

Later in the recording, Love testified, there is a loud slam, and the teacher tells them to sit down.

Two boys ask, “What? I was just trying to scare him.”

Milburn called South Fayette police Lt. Robert Kurta on Feb. 12 requesting he come take a report because he believed he “had a wiretapping incident.” State law generally prohibits secret audio recording.

After questioning the boy, district officials forced him to erase the recording and punished him with a Saturday detention, which he served, according to the hearing transcript. Kurta, who testified that he did not hear the recording, charged him with disorderly conduct, a summary offense.

Kurta did not return calls. He told the judge that he didn't think the case warranted a felony wiretapping charge but made the decision to pursue a summary charge “because I believe that he committed a crime.”

Skrbin testified that the district had records of Love complaining about students bullying her son, including an incident in October in which a student hit her son with “spitwads,” even after her son told him to stop.

“To be blunt, I would not classifying that as bullying,” Skrbin said.

McGraw-Desmet found Love's son guilty. She fined him a minimum of $25 and ordered him to pay court costs. McGraw-Desmet could not be reached.

Love said her son is appealing the judge's decision.

A hearing is scheduled in Common Pleas Court on April 29.

Adam Brandolph is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at 412-391-0927 or abrandolph@tribweb.com.

Read more: http://triblive.com/news/allegheny/5941400-74/son-love-recording#ixzz2yuWXuuuR

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