Pennsylvania
Mother charged in son’s death after SUV found at NJ beach
HORSHAM, Pa. (AP) — A mother has been charged with murder in the death of her 11-year-old son in southeastern Pennsylvania and is awaiting extradition from New Jersey, where she was arrested after her SUV was found in the surf on a beach at the Jersey shore.
Ruth DiRienzo-Whitehead, 50, of Horsham, is charged in Montgomery County with first- and third-degree murder as well as possession of an instrument of crime in the death of Matthew Whitehead, prosecutors said Wednesday.
Prosecutors said the boy’s father found the door to the master bedroom in the couple’s home locked Tuesday morning and his wife and their SUV missing. He then found their son unresponsive in the bed, where he had gone to sleep with his mother. Police were called and declared the boy dead.
An autopsy Wednesday concluded the boy’s death was due to strangulation and the manner of death was homicide.
Prosecutors allege DiRienzo-Whitehead killed her son after he went to sleep at about 9:30 p.m. Monday and then drove the family SUV about 120 miles (193 kilometers) south to Cape May, New Jersey, where she drove the vehicle “into the ocean just off Beach Avenue.”
After the vehicle was no longer operable, she walked to Wildwood Crest, a Cape May borough, where she was taken into custody by Wildwood Crest police and interviewed by Montgomery County detectives and Horsham police, prosecutors said.
Authorities allege in a criminal complaint that DiRienzo-Whitehead told investigators her son had been upset and “crying off and on all day” over the family’s financial difficulties and that she strangled him so he would not have “to grow up with these struggles.”
DiRienzo-Whitehead is being held in Cape May County and will be extradited back to Montgomery County, Pennsylvania for arraignment on the charges, prosecutors said Wednesday. Court documents don’t list an attorney representing her and a message could not be left at a number listed in her name.
A neighbor, Ed Smith, told WFMZ-TV that the boy’s death was “very tragic” and the case was “surprising.”
“Very nice people. Good neighbors,” he told the station. Smith and his wife, Diane, said they have known the boy’s mother for more than four decades.
Arizona
Court upholds clergy privilege in child abuse case
The Arizona Supreme Court has ruled that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints can refuse to answer questions or turn over documents under a state law that exempts religious officials from having to report child sex abuse if they learn of the crime during a confessional setting.
The ruling was issued April 7 but not released to the public until Tuesday. A lawsuit filed by child sex abuse victims accuses the church, widely known as the Mormon church, two of its bishops, and other church members of conspiracy and negligence in not reporting church member Paul Adams for abusing his older daughter as early as 2010. This negligence, the lawsuit argues, allowed Adams to continuing abusing the girl for as many as seven years, a time
in which he also abused the girl’s infant sister.
Lynne Cadigan, an attorney for the Adams children who filed the lawsuit, criticized the court’s ruling.
“Unfortunately, this ruling expands the clergy privilege beyond what the legislature intended by allowing churches to conceal crimes against children,” she said.
In a statement, the church concurred with the court’s action.
“The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints agrees with the Arizona Supreme Court’s decision,” the statement said. “We are deeply saddened by the abuse these children suffered. The Church has no tolerance of abuse of any kind.”
Adams had also posted videos of himself sexually abusing his daughters on the internet, boasted of the abuse on social media, and confessed to federal law enforcement agents, who arrested him in 2017 with no help from the church.
Those actions prompted Cochise County Superior Court Judge Laura Cardinal to rule on Aug. 8, 2022, that Adams had waived his right to keep his 2010 confession to Bishop John Herrod secret.
“Taken together, Adams’ overt acts demonstrate a lack of repentance and a profound disregard” for the principles of the church, Cardinal said in her ruling. “His acts can only be characterized as a waiver of the clergy penitent privilege.”
Clergy in Arizona, as in many other states, are required to report information about child sexual abuse or neglect to law enforcement or child welfare authorities. An exception to that law — known as the clergy-penitent privilege — allows members of the clergy who learn of the abuse through spiritual confessions to keep the information secret.
The church has based its defense in the lawsuit on the privilege, asserting that Herrod and a second bishop who learned of Adams’ confession, Robert “Kim” Mauzy, had no legal obligation to report him for abusing his older daughter and appealed Cardinal’s ruling.
On Dec. 15, the Arizona Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the church, saying it did not have to turn over disciplinary records for Adams, who was excommunicated in 2013. The Appeals Court also ruled that a church official who attended a church disciplinary hearing could refuse to answer questions from the plaintiff’s attorneys during pretrial testimony, based on the clergy-penitent privilege.
Lawyers representing the Adams girls and one of their brothers took the case to the Arizona Supreme Court, where they did not prevail, according to the April ruling.
In an unusual move, Cadigan said attorneys for the three Adams children intend to file a motion asking the Supreme Court to reconsider its ruling.
An Associated Press investigation of the clergy privilege shows it exists in 33 states and that the Mormon church, often joined by the Catholic Church, Jehovah’s Witnesses and other faiths, have successfully lobbied against attempts to reform or eliminate it.
New York
Urologist accused of patient sex abuse, including of minors
NEW YORK (AP) — A New York-area doctor was charged in an indictment unsealed Tuesday with sexual abuse of multiple male patients over several years, accused of using the prestige of two prominent medical institutions to make his actions seem medically necessary and appropriate.
Darius A. Paduch, 55, of North Bergen, New Jersey, was charged in Manhattan federal court with sexually abusing patients, including two males who were allegedly attacked before they became adults. Authorities said the attacks occurred at one Manhattan hospital from at least 2015 through 2019, and afterward at a second institution on Long Island.
At an initial court appearance, Paduch pleaded not guilty to the charges. In the event of a conviction, the charges could lead to a 10-year mandatory-minimum prison sentence or as much as life in prison.
Paducah was detained with the expectation that his lawyer would make a bail argument at a future date. His attorney declined to comment.
The indictment said Paduch had worked in New York from 2003 through 2023 as a practicing urologist specializing in male reproductive health.
The doctor claimed that some of his methods of touching his patients were medically necessary, but the indictment said they served no medical purpose and were intended instead for his sexual gratification.
U.S. Attorney Damian Williams in a statement said Paduch abused the trust of patients who saw him for sensitive medical problems.
“Paduch took advantage of his victims for his own deviant satisfaction. Thanks to this morning’s arrest, Paduch’s abuse of his patients ends today,” he said.
Michael J. Driscoll, head of New York’s FBI office, urged victims who have not spoken to authorities to call the FBI.
The indictment was praised by Mallory Allen, a law partner at a firm that has filed seven lawsuits on behalf of patients against the doctor and two hospitals where he has worked: New York-Presbyterian Weill Cornell Medical Center and Northwell Health.
“The indictment is a defining step towards justice for his many victims, and we applaud federal prosecutors for bringing these charges,” Allen said in a release.
In a statement, Northwell Health said it takes “these allegations very seriously.”
“Dr. Paduch is no longer working at Northwell. We will cooperate with the appropriate authorities as they conduct their investigation,” the statement added.
Weill Cornell Medicine said in its own statement that it has arranged for an outside investigation and it, too, is taking seriously the “disturbing allegations.”
“If proven true, it would be hard to overstate our empathy for the survivors of this awful abuse and their bravery in coming forward,” it said.
Maine
Woman charged with buying guns that ended up in LA
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — A Maine woman has been charged with buying dozens of guns that allegedly were provided to gangs in Southern California last year, federal prosecutors said.
Jennifer Scruggs, 35, of Turner, attested that she purchased 55 guns from three federally licensed firearms dealers in Auburn, Turner and Whitefield for her own use while she was actually buying them for others, law enforcement officials said.
Scruggs, who has been charged with 10 counts of making illegal straw gun purchases, made her first court appearance on Monday, according to prosecutors.
Each count carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000. Her attorney declined to comment Tuesday.
The purchases were made over a three-month period last year and were allegedly provided to gang members in California, but Scruggs also reported that two of the guns were stolen from her, law enforcement officials said.
A law enforcement affidavit states two of the guns were recovered by Los Angeles police, and one was fired by a man who shouted, “Crypts,” which was an apparent mistaken reference to the Crips street gang.
Missouri
Woman charged after flight diverted to Kansas City
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A woman has been charged in federal court after prosecutors said she caused a disturbance that forced a flight to be diverted to Kansas City International Airport.
Chloe DaSilva, 32, whose hometown was not available, was charged with one count of interfering with a flight attendant, federal prosecutors announced Monday.
DaSilva was on board an Alaska Airlines Flight that took off from San Francisco International Airport early Friday bound for Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport.
According to court documents filed Friday, several passengers said DaSilva became abusive toward a flight attendant, including threatening to kill him.
She eventually was restrained with zip ties.
The pilot told investigators he decided to divert the flight to Kansas City out of concern for the safety of the passengers.
After a hearing on Tuesday, DaSilva was released on her own recognizance. Her public defender, Lesley Smith, did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment.
