Posted on 09/17/2009 10:09:27 PM PDT by The Magical Mischief Tour
PHOENIX — An Arizona couple accused of sexual abuse after taking bath-time photos of their children and then trying to have them developed at Walmart are suing the state and the retail giant.
Lisa and Anthony "A.J." Demaree's three young daughters were taken away by Arizona Child Protective Services last fall when a Walmart employee found partially nude pictures of the girls on a camera memory stick taken to the store for processing, according to the suit.
The Peoria couple's attorney said Walmart turned the photos over to police and the Demarees were not allowed to see their children for several days and didn't regain custody for a month while the state investigated.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Home computer. Printer.
wonderful... because of some overzelous person.... this lawsuit will cost the taxpayers of maricopa county and all walmart customers....
“the Demarees were not allowed to see their children for several days and didn’t regain custody for a month “
What a nightmare.
Someone please tell me WTH a conscientious Wal-Mart employee is supposed to do when naked kid pics come across their computers?
Note to self - produce family pictures on home printer!!!
I wonder which digital camera they decided on?
Use some common sense???
They could start be exercising some common sense!
They need to be damn sure before they sound the alarm, simply because of the way the whole world acts nowadays.
Today, In most cases involving “Suspected Child Porn” you are guilty and convicted before the ink is dry on the arrest warrant.
I hope these folks win and win huge.
And here's hoping they score a huge haul.
The State of Arizona should have realized the pics for what they were. Keeping their kids for a months is WAY over the line!
People are bound to get sued either way. Heck, I sideline fixing and securing PC’s for some of the people at my workplace, and I always hope like heck I won’t run into anything that isn’t just straight ahead porn. There’s almost always some porn on the drive. Usually, I’m tasked by ladies to “clean up” and mayberry their computers against their son’s or husband’s habits.
I didn’t say anything about the state’s reaction, I don’t agree on that at all, just wondering about the Walmart end of it.
I don’t think that’s quite fair. Photos of (your own) kids taking bubble baths shouldn’t lead to having your kids taken away from you. The parents weren’t imprudent in trying to get these photos developed.
School Principles and Superindents aren’t permitted to use common sense, and you want to let a Wallyworld worker do so?
Are there any kids born after the discovery of the camera who haven’t had pictures taken of them in the bathtub?
Beat ya by 7 seconds
Does Walmart train their employees how to determine what is and what is not child pornography? If not, why are they playing cops or pretending to be experts in child abuse?
The couple is seeking undetermined monetary damages from both Walmart and the state and have requested a jury trial.
Requested a jury trial? They're going for their throats and I don't blame them.
Like their attorney said, "There was nothing sexual about them, this is a parent's worst nightmare."
Great minds think alike!
Here here!! LOL
WalMart is probably just complying with a state law, in order to avoid huge penalties for not complying. But the state should be able to take one look at the photos and determine that, at least if the children belong to the people who took the photos, no further investigation or action is necessary. Without seeing the photos, it’s hard to tell whether the WalMart workers were crazy for even turning them in — some sorts of photos that you might take of your own kids are just fine, but if the same photos were taken by a babysitter, daycare worker, or other non-relative, might raise serious questions as to why they were taken and what they were going to be used for. But from the description of the photos in this case, there’s no excuse for any state action beyond confirming that the adults who took the photos were the parents of the children in the photos, and that certainly doesn’t require removing the children from the home, or even questioning them out of the adults’ earshot.
In this age of inexpensive home computers and printers, I can’t imagine that anyone who is really taking pictures of children for pornographic purposes is having the pictures printed at a public facility.
Wal-Mart will skate, but there will be significant damages extracted from the state. (I’m a poet and I don’t know it.)
Yeah GO GET THEM !
what the hell is wrong with you??? ‘naked kid pics’????? how old are you? for cryin’ out loud they were pictures of little tiny children born to those folks!! we took those for years! don’t you think the Wal-mart employees might have checked this out before they went nuts to the media and authorities on this? good God, grow up.
Planned Parenthood has an established track record of covering up suspected statutory rape and child abuse and yet there is no prosecution.
Did Walmart take it upon themselves to spring this to the media?
The oddest thing about this is that it’s Sheriff Joe’s territory. Joe is not known for falling for the liberal panic du jour. I’d like to see some names named, and see footage of Joe tossing the culprits into his tent jails.
thank you. best well worded and thought out post this month. I get so tired of these liberals who make a mountain out of a mole hill, crying ‘child porn’ or implying such when none exists just because somebody has film developed of THEIR OWN little children. my old brownie (and earlier, remember the old brownie cameras??!!) pictures I guess would land myself and my remaining alive family in jail from many years ago. if the kids were older I would agree with the premise, but darn, wasn’t the oldest only FIVE YEARS OLD????? in a tub!!? good grief.
They weren't "playing cops". They turned the photos over to the cops and the cops decided the photos were questionable and investigated the case. As I see it the Walmart employee just did their job. The fact that the police/CPS etc over-reacted is another issue altogether.
Does Walmart train their employees how to determine what is and what is not child pornography, and how to recognize child abuse?
I agree. something screwy here for sure.
Geez, I never tire of this sort of over the top flaming, bobby.
Go get some rest.
My point for posting is that lawyers have everyone in this country by the grapes, and half the time you don’t know where the next lawsuit is coming from. Hell, I don’t condone the state taking these people’s kids, or even following up on it for that matter, and that’s not what I was saying. Or at least not what I meant.
I believe they are required by law to report such things and if they don’t can be found liable.
The problem is the laws and the morons who enforce them.
My parents have a picture of my little brother buck naked with a hat and a strategically placed purse. It’s great blackmail material. I guess I can now use it to blackmail my parents.
The world has gone crazy.
You're suggesting Walmart trains their employees how to determine what is and what is not child pornography, and how to recognize child abuse.
Or do they just take every pic of all the little kids or babies in their birthday suits and turn it over to law enforcement?
The Maricopa County Sheriff's office had no involvement in this incident.
Walmart shouldn't “investigate” anything like this. They are likely required by law to report this stuff and if they fail to could be held liable. It is as simple as that.
It is government that makes the laws and enforces them that are to blame. The morons who are tasked with doing these investigations and who took the kids away are the ones who should be sued an held accountable.
Sounds like they soon will.
reread your post 5. no over the top on my part. this was a complete overreaction on wal-mart’s end of things. I’m all for taking out these goddamn child abusers in any way shape or form, if 100% guilty, and I mean death. but for cryin’ out loud....little kidlettes in a tub!!?? walmart’s employees SHOULD be on alert for inappropriate pictures of any kind, ESPECIALLY children’s but damn this is a joke! would you like your kids or grand kids or great grands taken away for this? I’m past 80....maybe your right, I might need some rest, but this crap has really got my goat recently.
So yes, it would appear that the Walmart employee was simply doing what was expected of him/her.
The real blame lies elsewhere.
"The problem is the laws and the morons who enforce passed them."
Correcter-er.
40 years ago a guy I worked with found out that I took care of my daughter when my wife wasn't home. He asked me what I did about diaper changes. He thought it was evil that I changed my baby girl's diapers. As far as I'm concerned he was the one with the evil mind.
Everything isn't about sex in this world, but maybe society is so far gone now that people see things that way. It is a sickeness!
Anyone who molests kids needs to be hung, society is too ambiguos about too many things now, and this is creating the problems.
Isn't that the issue here....Most are saying nude pictures of young kids in a bubble bath isn't porn or child abuse. It takes more. Far more.
My mom is a filthy child pornographer!/s
So no. I don't think there were many children born after the popularization of the camera that did not have some ‘nude’ shots taken, in the bath or otherwise.
Hogwash
Walmart will get beat like a drum here, as they should.
very good point. legal and law wise, I might/will have to stand corrected and schooled. never to old to learn I guess but Damn, the fact that it has come to this really hurts.....how did our country come to this? how did we let it? nothing more precious than our children, but to think that innocent pictures, taken forever by parents and grandparents, might now be fodder for lawsuits...well, that is enough to make this old guy really hurt.
BS
Tell ya what, you find a Walmart employment application that states this as hiring requirement and post it here where it indicates this requirement and that the employee will be held criminally liable.
You won't find it, ya know why?
Because that would mean Walmart would also be required to train their employees in how to determine what is and what is not child pornography, and how to recognize child abuse.
Mind their own business unless they have some evidence something is wrong. Minding your own business is a a conservative way to go. Calling in the state without evidence is the statist way to go. And of course the state bombards you with ads telling you to turn in your neighbors.
The anti-littering ads that have been running in Washington State have been pretty creepy in this regard.
Just when I’m rolling out a new tagline...
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