Arizona Government Buildings. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
Lisa and Anthony Demaree of Maricopa County, Arizona have filed a lawsuit against the State of Arizona, the Arizona Attorney General and the City of Peoria, after their children were taken away by Child Protective Services because of photos the parents took of their children while on vacation in San Diego.
The photos were of their young children at play and in the bathtub. An employee of the Wal-Mart store where the Demarees took the photos to be processed notified authorities of the photos.
The photos, however, were not child porn, but simply the type of photos that most Americans have taken of their children when they were babies or toddlers. The Demarees not only had their children taken, but the children were examined for sexual abuse.
Furthermore, according to the lawsuit, "On September 3, 2008, Assistant Attorney General Jennifer Hunter, acting within the scope of her employment, published defamatory remarks to more than thirty-five family members and friends of plaintiffs, falsely stating that plaintiffs Lisa and A.J. Demaree "sexually abused" their children." The Demarees' eomplaint also alleges that "Peoria Police Detective Krause made false and defamatory statements to agents and employees of the Defendants." Among the statements made by Krause was one "that said parents were engaged in illegal actions by taking bath and play time photos of their children."
No evidence of sexual abuse was found, and the parents were cleared of all charges. However the Demarees, along with Mrs. Demaree's parents who have joined them in the lawsuit, state that the "Defendants intentionally inflicted severe emotional distress on Plaintiffs." The Demarees state that they have also suffered from headaches, nightmares, a general feeling of malaise, shock to their nervous systems, grief and depression.
The Demarees are leaving the amount of damages to a jury. They have also filed a separate lawsuit against Wal-Mart.
Copyright 2009 Daniel Weaver. Permission is granted to republish the first two paragraphs of this article on any website, as long as a link to this page is provided. Republishing or posting this article in its entirety on any website, including blogs, is both illegal and unethical.
Comments
Good for them! It'd be nice to see a jury rein in some of these self-righteous "officials."
Good for them. CPS and corrupt courts need to pay for the damage they do. Wal mart should not be a part of it though as they were only doing what they felt was right because of public hysteria by these courts and public officials.
No amount of money can ever make what happened right EVER!!!
Thank you for the clearly stated fair-use policy. I hope that catches on elsewhere.
I don't blame walmart for notifing the police. i do think the DA went far overboard though.
In some states the photolab tech (like many other professionals) would be required by law under the Child Abuse & Neglect Reporting Act (fed. legislation passed in 1974), to report the photos. Walmart did the right thing. The question is why were the kids removed if they were not in eminent danger? and kept in custody for so long? What is sad is animals have more rights than children! Parents should really think twice…this is not 1970 those pics could have ended up in wrong hands... There are sick people in this world (the Garrido's for example). What if the officer in that case like so many other officals that IGNORED the signs. How do you know the photos were innocent? It is easy to rebuke CPS until they miss soemthing and a child dies... Why are the parents waiting until now to sound the alarm? If I were innocent the MOMENT my children were removed I would have been sounding the alarm! Something just doesn't sound right.
Better charge Wal-Mart for selling child porn if they carrying the TV series Jon & Kate Plus 8, as in the series the small kids are show naked in the shower many times and on the toilet.
America has turned into the land of perverts.
OUT RAGEOUS...there should be no reason that those specific photos should have been reported...you people are out of control.
Does anybody remember Robin Williams in the movie One-Hour Photo? I can picture his character as the Wal-Mart clerk. These are innocent childhood photos. I have a half dozen of photos similar to these of my 6 year old half sister that my stepmom has taken over the years in a photo album upstairs. Most people have had to have seen the Wal-Mart TV ad of the kid getting out of the bathtub and her mom wrapping her up in a towel? They need to tape record this ad off of the TV and use it against Wal-Mart in court. Wal-Mart supports a country that oppresses free speech and wants to do the same here? What a bunch of hypocrites.
I would be going after the CPS morons and the DUMB ASS DA with a handgun. Screw the lawsuit, the courts are bullshit anyway. What the hell is it with people hiring lawyers to get justice. If this had happened to me you would have a DA and a bunch of CPS morons lying on the floor bleeding out from the massivve holes in they're heads!
idiots....all of them. They had ad idiot at Wal-Mart that either is childless or a pervert to think the thoughts they had when they looked....way too long at the pictures as far as I'm concerned. They had an idiot....now here's a surprise....working for CPS that clearly was either a CYA type or has other issues either with intellect or personal quirks or is my guess just plain stupid. The government only too happy to take these kids played around way too long before returning these children. I hate lawyers and lawsuits generally but I hope they find the one remaining honest lawyer that's in it for more than billable hours and makes these people as rich as the lawyer gets. Too bad for the tax payers that'll pay the bill for the incompetent bureaucrats that once again showed their blatant stupidity....but hey they hired them so to speak.
The sad thing is that the poor kids are the victims in this governmental tirade. There is a whole chain of officials that need to be relieved of their duties as public servants. The protection of the kids was violated by the ones claiming to be doing the protecting. CPS has lost the one small thread of credibility they never had with me.
CPS are the pervert and child abuser that hided under the cloth of protecting the children. United and we can stand to face these demon CPS. We need a safe place for our children to grow without these demons.
its amazing the authorities can just jump right into this, and it took them over 18 years on the garrido case. it shows the huge lack of basic common sense in our society,and the need for all of us to be under constant surveillance by the rest of us all the time. with constant surveillance the garridos of this world would never even get their first chance to act,and the idiots who jump to conclusions about the demarrees of this world will all be put into dead end low power positions where they cant screw up the world for the rest of us who have common sense
which seems to be me and about a dozen others
This is in response to Cali- Who asked "Why are the parents waiting until now to sound the alarm? If I were innocent the MOMENT my children were removed I would have been sounding the alarm! Something just doesn't sound right". I would have been nervous about angering the people are currently in control of my childrens well being.
As for the story as a whole. There is no reasonable excuse I can think of for why the children had to be removed. Where was the immediate danger?? If the pictures showed the children being molested or something then you'd know that terrible things could be happening while someone is investigating. But a couple of nude pictures??? Come on. Nudity does not equal pornography.
Personally, I'm never shopping at Walmart until they apologize. If you want to tell them the same thing, call 800 925 6278.
Morons who jumped at this opportunity to ruin a childhood and parenthood, and turn a normal life into living hell should be banned from ANY public position EVER. They have all demonstrated incredible lack of common sense and judgment which makes them good only for jobs not involving people, and where they cannot influence anyone's life.
Unfortunately there are many more idiots like that in all kinds of institutions.
As for the Wal-Mart employee who saw abuse where there was none, he should be arrested - he is the pervert who gets excited when he sees kids naked.
BTW I AM NEVER SHOPPING AT WAL MART AGAIN!
What happened to the Wal-mart lady pales in comparison to what Virginia DSS did to us. I do feel for these parents as we have lived it and I'm glad they exposed the corruption. I , Fred Dinwiddie and my wife Michelle were arrested after our then 15 year old son snuck out to have a night on the town. We were awakened by Giles County Sheriffs and DSS workers at 5:oo A.M. and arrested that morning. They then took our other 3 children. We were charged with felony abandonment because our son told them he had been kicked out of the house. He later recanted and we were found Not Guilty but DSS kept our kids for 8 months. Not one person within the media would touch our story, not one person with any clout would step in and tell these people to give us our kids back even though the Judge told DSS they had not done a thing to help our children. We are now suing Virginia and Giles County DSS. The entire story is pub on kidjacked.com Mr. Weaver please call me at 7315594067
I feel for the parents because I had also had false allegations of child molestation made against me. I was quickly cleared of these charges but the damage had already been done. I am sueing for these damages. This is unjust allegations and those making such outranges false allegations should pay for their crime. Especially when the person making the allegations know they are false.
Good for them. I hope they win.
lawblog.legalmatch.com/2009/09/24/better-safe-than-sorry-when-puritanical-hysteria-harms-children/
I wish every parent would do this (SUE), every single time CPS comes into their lives. CPS is inherently evil and undemocratic. And Walmart and the employee are indeed to blame also, and should suffer the consequences. The consequences should be severe, as the damage to the children and family was severe, and will last a lifetime. That kind of trauma is not easily forgotten.
Daniel Weaver Help or someone. I am writing from Maricopa county in Arizona too same place as Lisa and Anothony Demarce. In April I made a false alligation towards my husband I thought he had touched our two year old. Cps took our 2 girls away. My husband has since passed 2 polygraphs and never arrested or charged with any crime and passed a 3 day phcosexual exam. My oldest daughter 7 reported no abuse of any kind from daddy. Myself was abused by my father 25 years ago and never received any phcological help I have since been in intense therapy by two phyciatrist say I projected my past insecurities and paronoid thoughts onto my husband. I see that clearly now. Cps does not and continue to acuse a innocent man and the damage to our children is horrific. I have evidence the foster mom has been brainwashing the baby to say things she never said 5 months ago the foster mom has motive because she wants the baby permenetly her direct words. Help somebody. clrmontessori@aol.com
to the first commentor Christina, Sorry dont fel sorry for you. Yo werethe causeof all oftis, Faqthers arent allowed to ouchteir own daughters. False alligtions are anesy way to destroy families, that YOU crated.
It all about money. They traffic children for Title IV social security money. Doctors, social workers, psychologists, ministers, psychiatrists, police officers, firemen, and many others are mandatory reports. They recruit as many people as they can to help them take children. Yes there are abused children. But, most of them are not help by CPS. The workers are not well educated and are not well trained. If you want to know the truth just follow the money. They get $40,000 or more for each child they adopt out. It's about money and power. But it's mostly about money.
where did u get that info..I could use it for my kids.I had a TV show called Parents Get United and CPS NEWS but I ran out of money.I fought CPS in Texas. I changed laws and brought awareness but they kept my twins claiming that thier dad had sexually abused them. My twins are grown now and found me.. they said their father never abused them at all. The dad is dead now but they continue to harrass my new family.Please respond robincash8@aol.com
Maybe it's time to stop shopping at Walmart?
"In the best interest of the children" almost always translates into "In the best interest of CPS". CPS is coming to a door near you.
I feel for them. Me and my husband are currently charged with child abuse in St. Joseph, Buchanan County, Mo. I'm out on bail he is still incarcerated. Our then 2 month old daughter received a broken femur when my husband slipped on the ice and they are saying we did this intentional. What don't help is our system of justice in this town is corrupt and crooked. I'm just doing everything I can to tell my story to the world. Maybe someone will help us
Go to Parentalrights.org and get involved. We need to unite and change the laws.Currently this site has made great progress for us all and they need our support. we are running out of time. January 2011 is when this law will be considered. Go to this site now and sign the petition, call the numbers for help and pass the word. I pray we all find justice in an unjust world, leave our babies alone. Did you know that over 50 % of the kids in Foster Care are white. Thats because these kids are adoptable...thats why so many kids die from abuse,,they dont bring in the money to CPS.. thats child abuse too! I pray for all the people suffering at the hands of current laws.
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