Teen Found Guilty of Raping Toddler This sick older brother is going away… hopefully for the rest of his life: Memphis, TN – A Memphis jury has found 17-year-old James Prindle guilty of raping a 23-month-old girl. The jury took all day on Friday to convict Prindle on all counts. Prosecutors claimed Prindle committed the disturbing act against the toddler while babysitting at Cordova Creek Apartments in August of 2010. Though just 15 at the time, he was later charged and indicted as an adult. “There’s no DNA, no semen, no blood stain. You’ll hear how the child was bleeding but nothing links James to the sexual assault,” said Prindle’s defense during opening arguments. Prindle was accused of bathing the child before running to a neighbor for help. Prosecutors say he told that neighbor a lie that a “large black man wearing a mask broke into the apartment,” that police later disproved. The next story Prindle told, according to prosecutors, was that his friends were responsible for the rape. His defense attorney says he lied about the robber because he was trying to stay out of trouble with his mother for having friends over when he was supposed to be babysitting. “He’s hanging out with friends, high, running the apartment complex. That’s what he was doing, making up stories lying about being in the apartment every time he was left alone for hours,” claimed the defense. Prindle’s attorney says Prindle, who had not only smoked marijuana but had taken Xanex, wasn’t home at the time of the rape and says once he found the little girl beaten and bruised he did everything he could to help her. Lil punk! You’ll be treated real nice where you’re going. Foxmemphis
This mom is a monster ! A Kansas City woman was charged Saturday with abusing her 10-year-old daughter who weighed just 32 pounds when she was found locked in a closet that reeked of urine. The 29-year-old woman faces charges of assault and child abuse and endangerment in Jackson County Circuit Court. The Associated Press is not naming the mother to protect the child’s identity. Prosecutors are requesting that bond be set at $200,000. Officers freed the girl after responding Friday morning to a call to a child abuse hotline. Neighbors told police that they didn’t know the malnourished child taken from the public housing complex even lived there. When officers first arrived, two women told the officers that the mother had left about 20 minutes earlier with two girls, whom they described as “clean and well fed,” a Kansas City officer said in the probable cause statement. A social services worker said there should be three children at the home. But the women insisted, “No, we have lived here for several years, and she only has two daughters that stay here, and we have never seen the other girl, but we heard she stays with the father or an aunt,” the probable cause statement said. Officers ultimately made their way into the apartment, where they found a portable crib pushed up against a bedroom closet, which was tied closed. The officers asked if anyone was inside, and a child’s voice answered “yes,” the probable cause statement said. The girl told officers that her mother took her sisters out to breakfast, but she didn’t go because “she messes herself.” The girl was transported to a Children’s Mercy Hospital, where she was diagnosed with multiple skin injuries. Hospital staff said she had gained just 6 pounds since she last was at the hospital six years earlier. The girl told detectives who interviewed her at the hospital that her mother puts her in the closet “a lot,” that she doesn’t get to eat every day and that she “does not want to go back home anymore.” The girl also said she gets in trouble “because she keeps peeing on herself” and her mother will “punch her on her back real hard,” according to the probable cause statement. The mother was arrested later Friday and the two younger children were placed in protective custody. The mother told police she doesn’t let the 10-year-old leave the house because she knows the girl is malnourished and would “get in trouble if someone saw her.” The mother’s boyfriend, who is not the girl’s father and hasn’t been charged, said he hadn’t seen the girl in about a year. He said that when he asked about her, the mother told him she was with her aunt or in her room because she was in trouble. He said he never knew the mother put the girl in the closet or “he would have done something about it,” the probable cause statement said. Mike Mansur, a spokesman for the Jackson County prosecutor’s office, said the mother hasn’t said why she singled the girl out. This is just sick and sad! We hope this little girl gets placed in a home where can be properly loved and taken care of. Source
Toddler’s Fingertip Bitten Off By Pet Pirhana Might be a good idea to stick to goldfish. They don’t each much finger food. An 18-month-old girl in Illinois had her fingertip bitten off by one of her family’s pet piranhas. The toddler’s horrified mother initially blamed the family’s pet pitbull after making the shocking discovery Tuesday, the Pioneer Press reported. She had heard her daughter crying and noticed the girl’s finger was bleeding. After Cook County Sheriff’s police were called to the house in Maine Township, officers determined the wound was actually from a piranha. The family kept piranhas in a fish tank near where the child had been playing. The toddler’s father immediately cut open one of the predatory fish — revealing the missing fingertip. The child was rushed to the hospital, but a spokeswoman could not say whether the fingertip had been successfully reattached. Source
Bristol Palin is saving herself for marriage, she says. After she’s already had a kid, but you know, live and learn. Despite seemingly being the worst-ever abstinence advocate for obvious reasons, she’s determined to promote that cause, saying that being a teen mom was way too hard. “My sister Willow is 17, and when I was her age, I was eight months pregnant, and I look at her and I think, ‘Holy cow, I was just a baby !’” she reflects. “I don’t care what your background is, it’s so hard.” Now 21, Bristol Palin is determined to walk down the aisle before she even contemplates having another child – or even consummating relations with a man. “Gino and I are going to wait until marriage,” she says of Giacinto “Gino” Paoletti, her boyfriend of several years. “I’m doing what’s best for me.” “It’s between me and God, and I know it’s right.” Bristol, whose new reality show Life’s a Tripp premiered this week to terrible reviews and ratings , beams when she says “I have the cutest kid in the world.” On the flip side, “Since I have this platform, I want to use it for good … I want to let girls know that this isn’t ideal, this isn’t fun, this isn’t easy.” By pledging abstinence, Bristol Palin is …
‘Keeping Up With the Kardashians’ star name Blake Lively and big sis Kourtney as their fashion inspirations. By Jocelyn Vena, with reporting by Vanessa White Wolf Kylie and Kendall Jenner Photo: Have you ever watched Kylie and Kendall Jenner on “Keeping Up With the Kardashians” and wondered just what they look for when they go shopping? Well, you’ll find the answer here. MTV News got the chance to hang out with the reality show princesses and Seventeen magazine fashionistas on Robertson Boulevard in sunny Los Angeles, where they dished all about cool summer styles and what they wear when the weather gets boiling hot. They picked out some of their choice looks at L.A. staples Alice + Olivia and Kitson. “Some of the big trends for summer? I love colored shorts and I think those are coming back, just bright things,” Kendall shared. “I have so many bright-colored jeans now.” Kylie agreed about the color trend for this summer, adding that “color blocking, just a bunch of patterns and crazy stuff” top her favorite-looks list. “Jumpers are just, like, amazing for summer,” she said. “So easy. You can throw it on, go to the mall, who knows?” Meanwhile, Kendall weighed in on her other must-haves. “These shorts [are] so cool,” she said. “The pattern, the American flag, and just how they’re different [and] no one really has them. I think that’s sick for summer.” Another sick piece? “I love mullet dresses,” she said of dresses with a high-low hemline. “I think they are so cute. They show off your legs.” Kylie, who chooses Blake Lively as her fashionista of choice, had a preppier pick for her summer go-to staple. “Also for the summer [are] collared shirts. You can get the craziest collared shirts and put them with simple jeans … and it’s so cute and classy, and it’s such a great look.” Lively may be Kylie’s favorite style icon, but Kendall kept her pick in the family. ” My sister Kourtney , she’s been wearing lots of bright colors ’cause she’s so cute and little and pregnant,” she raved about her big sister.
‘He just broke down, and he said, ‘I can’t do it anymore,’ ‘ Bieber’s manager, Scooter Braun, recalls to MTV News. By Jocelyn Vena Justin Bieber Photo: It’s not always easy being Justin Bieber . In fact, there has been a moment or two when the Believe singer had his doubts about embarking on a life of celebrity. He recently opened up to Fabulous magazine about questioning his life of fame after he found himself smack dab in the middle of a paternity scandal with a fan, Mariah Yeater, who claimed he fathered her child. He remained steadfast that he never even met the woman, and she eventually dropped her claim. But, as it turns out — according to Bieber’s manager, Scooter Braun — when Bieber needed a pick-me-up and some convincing to stick to the music game another time, he looked to a pro athlete for some wisdom. “There was a show in Orlando, [Florida] … It was a day where he had to make a decision if he was going to continue on or not, ’cause he was fighting,” Braun recalled to MTV News. “We were in Orlando. We had a sold-out arena show, and it had gotten to a point where kids were surrounding hotels, and you’re talking about a kid who is 15, 16 years old, and he went and did a show 20,000 people, sold out, but right before he went into the show, he was having a little bit of an attitude.” (Bieber played Orlando on his My World Tour in August 2010.) “And he goes in the show, and he was fine, and he comes off, and I go, ‘What was that before the show?’ and he just broke down, and he said, ‘I can’t do it anymore. I can’t go outside. I can’t go anywhere … I feel like a spectacle all the time.’ And he was really struggling with it. You got to remember he didn’t want to be a star: I found him, and it happened.” Bieber and Braun had a major heart-to-heart as he struggled with his superstardom, but the teen did offer one suggestion on how he might be able to come to terms with how he was feeling. “So, we had a long talk about ‘Is this what you want?’ He sat there, got real quiet, he looked at me and goes, ‘I want to meet Kobe Bryant.’ “And I was like, ‘Kobe Bryant? We just had this emotional conversation.’ And he goes, ‘No, I just feel like no matter what Kobe does, he’ll always be chasing Michael Jordan’s ghost, and someone the other day told me I could grow up in front of the entire world like Michael [Jackson] did, and I just want to know how you handle always chasing someone’s ghost that you’ll just never going to be able to catch.’ It was actually a pretty profound moment.” Three weeks later, the encounter happened. Braun recalled, “They had a pretty intense conversation and something that I think Justin will never forget.” Related Videos ‘Bieber Live’ Related Photos The Evolution Of: Justin Bieber
Larry Birkhead appeared on Good Morning America today to answer a couple of burning questions: How has he explained the death of Anna Nicole Smith to the former couple’s five-year old daughter, Dannielynn? Is he truly the most despicable parent on the planet? Based on yet another instance of Birkhead milking Smith’s death for attention and money, it would be hard to answer inquiry number-two in anything but the affirmative (despite the best efforts of Taylor Armstrong ), as Birkhead told viewers how he responded when Dannielynn asks about her mother. “I said, ‘You know, they, doctors couldn’t fix her. But if you’re good … you’ll get to see her someday.’” Smith, a very troubled actress/model, was found dead in a Florida hotel room on February 8, 2007. Birkhead has spent every few months since parading his cute daughter in front of reporters and giving the world updates on a child we all just wish could live a regular life, out of the spotlight. But Larry insists on making Dannielynn a public figure… and then acting shocked when she’s in the news. Such as when he dragged her last month to the Kentucky Derby. “You know, it’s weird when your child is five years old and trending,” the moron told Robin Roberts this morning. “There’s all these big stars that came and the next thing you know Dannielynn’s picture is all over the place.” Overall, Birkhead says “it’s hard to move on.” Why? “Because you have this little 47-pound reminder of her mother walking around. And you have all these images that are still so much very alive that you have to deal with every day. “I want to keep Anna’s image alive in a positive way. She could light up a room. And now her daughter’s taken her place and she’s lighting up every room that she goes into, trust me. I feel it every day.”
Larry Birkhead appeared on Good Morning America today to answer a couple of burning questions: How has he explained the death of Anna Nicole Smith to the former couple’s five-year old daughter, Dannielynn? Is he truly the most despicable parent on the planet? Based on yet another instance of Birkhead milking Smith’s death for attention and money, it would be hard to answer inquiry number-two in anything but the affirmative (despite the best efforts of Taylor Armstrong ), as Birkhead told viewers how he responded when Dannielynn asks about her mother. “I said, ‘You know, they, doctors couldn’t fix her. But if you’re good … you’ll get to see her someday.’” Smith, a very troubled actress/model, was found dead in a Florida hotel room on February 8, 2007. Birkhead has spent every few months since parading his cute daughter in front of reporters and giving the world updates on a child we all just wish could live a regular life, out of the spotlight. But Larry insists on making Dannielynn a public figure… and then acting shocked when she’s in the news. Such as when he dragged her last month to the Kentucky Derby. “You know, it’s weird when your child is five years old and trending,” the moron told Robin Roberts this morning. “There’s all these big stars that came and the next thing you know Dannielynn’s picture is all over the place.” Overall, Birkhead says “it’s hard to move on.” Why? “Because you have this little 47-pound reminder of her mother walking around. And you have all these images that are still so much very alive that you have to deal with every day. “I want to keep Anna’s image alive in a positive way. She could light up a room. And now her daughter’s taken her place and she’s lighting up every room that she goes into, trust me. I feel it every day.”
The door-knocking in California might be on hiatus for a little while… Judge Rules That Jehovah’s Witness Group Pay $20 Million To Sexually Abused Woman In what both sides described as a momentous ruling, a jury in Oakland, Calif., has found that Jehovah’s Witnesses was partly responsible for the alleged sexual abuse of a girl by one of its members and must pay her more than $20 million. The Alameda County Superior Court jury on Thursday awarded $21 million in punitive damages to the plaintiff, who is now 26 years old. That was on top of the $7 million in compensatory damages it awarded her on Wednesday. The Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ legal entity, is responsible for the entire punitive damages amount and 40 percent of the compensatory damages, said Rick Simons, attorney for the plaintiff. Sixty percent of the compensatory damages was assessed against Jonathan Kendrick, the man accused of abusing her. Candace Conti sued Watchtower, the Fremont, Calif., congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses and Kendrick in 2011. It’s msnbc.com’s policy not to identify victims of sexual abuse, but Conti agreed to be identified so that any other victims would feel they could come forward too. “The ultimate goal of the lawsuit was to have a change in policy, to be able to ID these people, child molesters, to the congregation to protect children,” Conti told msnbc.com. “Secondarily, to have silent ones come forward and tell their stories and to bring to light that overall issue of violence and the hush-hush policy.” Both her parents were Watchtower congregation members at the time of the abuse, she said. “I was trying to be the best Jehovah’s Witness I could be at that time,” she told msnbc.com. WTF?!? Is NOTHING sacred anymore?? Jim McCabe, attorney for the Fremont congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses, said that he was “stunned” by the verdict and would appeal. “This is the first case I know of where a church has been hit with liability involving a rank-and-file member,” he told msnbc.com. “Mr. Simons has his twist on the facts and we will see how a court of appeals views the trial court rulings and the evidence,” McCabe said. The jury found that the elders who managed the Fremont congregation in the 1990s and who were under the supervision of Watchtower knew that Kendrick, a member, had recently been convicted of the sexual abuse of another child, but they kept his past record secret from the congregation, said Simons. Kendrick went on to molest the plaintiff, who was a Jehovah’s Witness member in Fremont, over a two-year period beginning when she was 9 years old, the lawsuit contended. Kendrick was eventually convicted in 2004 of the sexual abuse of another girl, and is now a registered sex offender in California, Simons said. He has not been criminally charged with abusing the plaintiff, but Simons said the case is under investigation by law enforcement. We’re glad that this young woman got SOME restitution for the suffering she has endured for so many years. Hopefully when criminal charges are filed this Jonathan Kendrick will find himself in a tight cell with a wide…well, you get the picture. Image via Shutterstock Source
Watching a thriller requires a certain willingness to be a dupe. The whole idea is to give yourself over, and the ideal is to find yourself moving from scene to scene – as if you were cautiously exploring the rooms of a very mysterious house — asking, “And then what?” In the Paris-underworld thriller The Woman in the Fifth , director Pawel Pawlikowski is skillful enough to keep you wondering, from scene to scene, exactly what that what is going to be, and I was with the movie every step of the way, right until the final credits began rolling – at which point I realized that the whole thing made no sense whatsoever, and that none of my nagging questions about what the hell was going on would ever be answered. There’s a distinction to be made between being a dupe and being had. I know, I know, I’m being way too literal – The Woman in the Fifth is one of those movies of the “It was only a dream!” variety, designed to tickle our imagination as we ponder the distinction between what’s real and what’s only illusion. Some “It was only a dream!” movies work beautifully — The Wizard of Oz is one of them; Femme Fatale is another. But The Woman in the Fifth leaves a tantalizing trail of breadcrumbs only to lead us to…one last breadcrumb. I enjoyed watching Kristin Scott Thomas shimmer through the picture as a sultry viper woman, and I felt a kind of embarrassed tenderness for Ethan Hawke as his character tried to express himself in stubby blurts of bad French. But by the end, I only wished I had some stinky cheese rinds to throw at them. That may be less their fault than Pawlikowski’s. (Pawlikowski adapted the screenplay from Douglas Kennedy’s novel of the same name, which I have not read, though now I’m extremely curious – I need to read it to find out if it has an actual ending.) Tom Ricks (Ethan Hawke) is an American college professor who, as the movie opens, shows up in Paris to reconnect with his estranged wife (Delphine Chuillot) and the couple’s young daughter (Julie Papillon). The wife is none too happy to see him – she not only bars him from seeing his child, but calls the police on him. He runs off, boards a bus, falls asleep and awakens at the last stop — in a crap neighborhood, naturally – only to find that his bags have been stolen, though luckily he still has his passport. He makes his way to a shabby café where a tired-looking but beautiful Polish blonde named Ania (Joanna Kulig) waits on him cautiously. Ricks needs a room – is there one available? Ania waves him over to her bass, the café’s owner, the super-shady-looking Sezer (Samir Guesmi), who agrees to give him lodging but insists on keeping his passport as a formality. In his desperation, Ricks obliges without even a blink. That’s one of those deliciously ill-advised decisions that only fictional characters are allowed to make, and you can’t help wondering what it’s going to set in motion. During the course of the movie, Sezer gives Ricks a job, Ricks is forced to share a bathroom with a big black guy who won’t flush the toilet, and a mysterious femme fatale insinuates her way into Ricks’ life. That would be Thomas’s Margit, a mesmerizing creature who works as a translator. The two meet at a half-pretentious, half-pathetic literary party, and she slips him her card, urging him to call her. “Anytime after four,” she purrs. Up to this point, and really pretty much up to the end, The Woman in the Fifth is beautifully noirish. Shot by Ryszard Lenczewski – in Paris, no less! – the picture has a dull glow that’s both elegant and ominous. The performances are suitably low-key and intriguing: Hawkes’ Ricks is a walking pile of trouble, a man whose anguish virtually sweats through his pores. Hawkes is a shambling actor, often so understated that it looks as if he’s doing nothing, or as if he were simply on his way somewhere else and got caught up in a detour – I’ve always liked that about him. As for Thomas, I don’t believe there’s any beautiful actress working who looks more like a lizard – and I mean that as a compliment. Those heavy-lidded eyes, that patrician sculpted jawline: In The Woman in the Fifth , she looks as if she should be perpetually sunning herself on a rock, if only it wouldn’t wreak havoc on her aristocratic milky pallor. I loved watching The Woman in the Fifth . But the ending is both so oblique and so murderously obvious that I felt I’d been had. Where the devil were those stinky cheese rinds, which I know I should carry with me at all times? Pawlikowski – director of the 2004 My Summer of Love , which featured a then not-so-well-known Emily Blunt – guides us artfully through the picture, keeping us asking all sorts of questions, only to leave us at the wrong bus stop. With no luggage. Did I really just spend 90 minutes watching this thing, pretty much enraptured for most of the time? No! It was only a dream! If only.
