Foster mother arrested in connection with child's death
By BILL VOGRIN
THE GAZETTE
October 11, 2007 - 6:05PM
http://www.gazette.com/articles/cuneo_28362___article.html/breister_child.html
A woman described by police as a “professional foster parent" has been
jailed on suspicion of first-degree murder and felony child abuse in
connection with the death of a 2-year-old foster child.
Jules Lynn Cuneo, 34, was being held without bond today in the El Paso
County Criminal Justice Center.
Authorities identified the victim as Alizé Vick, who died Wednesday
afternoon, a day after suffering what a neurosurgeon described to police
as a “violent blow to the head.”
Cuneo looked ashen and cried throughout a short video hearing before El
Paso County Fourth Judicial Magistrate John Paul Lyle. She waived the
reading of allegations against her, quietly answering, “Yes sir,” when
asked if she understood the proceedings.
In addition to the homicide investigation, sheriff’s deputies also are
looking into a series of child-abuse complaints against Cuneo for
incidents that allegedly occurred in her home dating to 2003.
These included one made to the county Department of Human Services May 8
— a couple of months after Alizé and her 9-month-old brother, Anthony,
were placed in Cuneo’s home, said Joe Breister, law enforcement bureau
chief for the El Paso County Sheriff’s Department.
A neighbor had heard and recorded the sounds of screaming over her baby
monitor, which was picking up activities allegedly occurring in the
Cuneo home, Breister said.
On the tape, the neighbor said she could hear the child screaming for
Cuneo to get off of her and Alizé crying that she couldn’t breathe,
Breister said. According to the jail booking record, Cuneo weighs 300
pounds.
Breister confirmed sheriff’s investigators had picked up a copy of the
three-hour tape, which was in a file at the DHS office.
Unlike three earlier complaints, Breister said there was no indication
in the file that the May 8 complaint, which included a letter from the
neighbor, had ever been investigated.
“The letter is crying out for DHS to take some type of action to protect
the child,” Breister said. “But there is nothing in the file to indicate
anyone has looked into this. We have a handwritten intake sheet with the
letter attached to it.”
Barbara Drake, director of the Department of Human Services, said today
the law prohibits her from talking about specific cases.
She said any credible complaint would have been investigated by her
staff, which monitors foster parents in El Paso County. About 400
children are in foster care at any given time, she said.
Drake, who has been with the agency 30 years in various capacities, said
she couldn’t remember the last child who died in foster care.
“This is a terrible tragedy,” Drake said. “We are going to do a thorough
internal investigation. We’ll turn every stone to understand and improve
our role in terms of this.
Breister said deputies were called to Cuneo’s home on Calle Corvo, a
street in an unincorporated neighborhood west of Colorado Highway 115
near Fort Carson, on Tuesday evening and found the child in “grave
condition.” She was flown by Flight for Life to Memorial Hospital.
Deputies interviewed Cuneo, who told them Alizé had fallen out of a
parked sport utility vehicle earlier in the day and hit her head. Later
in the afternoon, Cuneo told deputies, she was bouncing the child on her
knee when she fell off and struck her head on a coffee table.
But deputies didn’t believe her, Breister said, and pressed Cuneo for
details.
“The head trauma was too severe to be caused by a fall from a parked
vehicle,” he said, citing assessments of neurosurgeons at the hospital.
In an arrest affidavit, Detective Cliff Porter said Cuneo confessed “she
had gotten angry” with Alizé and had “thrown the victim hard enough that
she landed on the opposite side of the table on the floor.”
Breister said his agency was getting a subpoena for the files of Kids
Crossing, the child-placement agency that hired Cuneo as a foster
parent. Besides the complaints filed with the county, Breister said
several complaints were made by Alizé’s grandparents to Kids Crossing.
A Kids Crossing spokesperson declined to comment today.
Alizé’s grandmother, Kathleen Heil, confirmed that she had made three
complaints after picking up Alizé and Anthony from Cuneo’s home for
visitations.
“We saw bruising on her face, a fat lip, a black eye and a broken tooth
one time,” Heil said through sobs and tears. “At first, I thought Jules
was a godsend. Then things changed. She didn’t want to give me
information about my grandkids.”
Heil said the children were put in foster care because their parents,
20-year-old Ashley Lindenberger and 22-year-old Christopher Vick, are in
jail. Heil said Lindenberger is being held on drug charges. Vick, who
has a tattoo of his daughter’s name, is serving six months for assault,
according to the sheriff’s jail log.
Heil said she started reporting Cuneo after seeing a change in Alizé.
“One time when I picked the kids up, Alizé said ‘Mommy hit me,’ meaning
Jules. I called Kids Crossing,” Heil said. “It got to be bad when I
tried to drop them off at the end of our visits. Alizé would kick and
scream and cry. She’d say ‘Grandma, don’t leave me.’”
Heil sobbed when she learned of the audio tape made by Cuneo’s neighbor.
“Oh, my God, they should have taken my grandchildren out of there,” Heil
said. “My granddaughter is dead because of them.”
Cuneo is a single mother with twin 8-year-old children, who are now in
foster care, Breister said. Alizé’s brother, Anthony, also remains in
foster care, Heil said.
A spokeswoman at Central Christian Church on West Pikes Peak Avenue
confirmed that Caneo was children’s event coordinator at the
nondenominational church. But she declined to identify herself, and
pastor Derry Gibson did not return phone calls.
Breister described Cuneo as a “professional foster parent” who supported
herself on the payments for caring for foster children. Drake said
payments range from $400 a month up to $1,000 for special-needs children.
Cuneo’s next court date is Oct. 22, when formal charges may be filed
against her. The homicide was the first in unincorporated El Paso County
this year.
Gazette reporter Dennis Huspeni contributed to this report.
CURRENTLY CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES VIOLATES MORE CIVIL RIGHTS ON A
DAILY BASIS THEN ALL OTHER AGENCIES COMBINED INCLUDING THE NSA / CIA
WIRETAPPING PROGRAM....
CPS Does not protect children...
It is sickening how many children are subject to abuse, neglect and even
killed at the hands of Child Protective Services.
every parent should read this .pdf from
connecticut dcf watch...
http://www.connecticutdcfwatch.com/8x11.pdf
http://www.connecticutdcfwatch.com
Number of Cases per 100,000 children in the US
These numbers come from The National Center on
Child Abuse and Neglect in Washington. (NCCAN)
Recent numbers have increased significantly for CPS
*Perpetrators of Maltreatment*
Physical Abuse CPS 160, Parents 59
Sexual Abuse CPS 112, Parents 13
Neglect CPS 410, Parents 241
Medical Neglect CPS 14 Parents 12
Fatalities CPS 6.4, Parents 1.5
Imagine that, 6.4 children die at the hands of the very agencies that
are supposed to protect them and only 1.5 at the hands of parents per
100,000 children. CPS perpetrates more abuse, neglect, and sexual abuse
and kills more children then parents in the United States. If the
citizens of this country hold CPS to the same standards that they hold
parents too. No judge should ever put another child in the hands of ANY
government agency because CPS nationwide is guilty of more harm and
death than any human being combined. CPS nationwide is guilty of more
human rights violations and deaths of children then the homes from which
they were removed. When are the judges going to wake up and see that
they are sending children to their death and a life of abuse when
children are removed from safe homes based on the mere opinion of a
bunch of social workers.
CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES, HAPPILY DESTROYING THOUSANDS OF INNOCENT
FAMILIES YEARLY NATIONWIDE AND COMING TO YOU'RE HOME SOON...
BE SURE TO FIND OUT WHERE YOUR CANDIDATES STANDS ON THE ISSUE OF
REFORMING OR ABOLISHING CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES ("MAKE YOUR CANDIDATES
TAKE A STAND ON THIS ISSUE.") THEN REMEMBER TO VOTE ACCORDINGLY IF THEY
ARE "FAMILY UNFRIENDLY" IN THE NEXT ELECTION...
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