FL - Day care owner commits suicide

czechmate7

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Okaloosa day-care owner commits suicide

FORT WALTON BEACH, Fla. (AP) A man fatally shot himself in the day care center he co-owned as investigators showed up to serve him a search warrant on child abuse allegations, Okaloosa County authorities said.

Jan Ritchie, 51, locked himself in a bathroom at Patti's Day Care where he suffered a bullet wound to the head about 10 a.m. Thursday, sheriff officials said.

Six children in the daycare center were moved to a secure location when investigators arrived. Authorities forced their way in the bathroom when they heard a gunshot.

"None of the kids were in the proximity of the gunshot," said Maj. Larry Donaldson with the sheriff's office.

Authorities have not released details regarding the child abuse allegations against Ritchie.

"We were participating in an ongoing investigation with the Department of Children & Family Services," Donaldson said
http://www.pensacolanewsjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200770928006
All this child abuse is making me sick!!!!:banghead: What is going on in the world today!!
 
WOW:eek: Child abuse is so wide spread.Glad this jerk took his own life, dhis state a lot of money.
 
I don't want to judge without evidence, but his actions scream of guilt.
 
From what I saw on the news, the daycare was located in the rear of a residence (probably adjoined to the owners home) which explains the gun being around.
There was a spokesperson for the family speaking and what appeared to be the wife on the news; they denied any wrongdoing but I agree with Calikid....I don't want to judge, but his actions scream guilt!
 
Here is a new article regarding this .......

Parents: Son was abused at Patti's Day Care more than a year ago

FORT WALTON BEACH — Two days after a day care co-owner shot and killed himself during a sex abuse investigation, two parents of a 3-year-old boy say he abused their son more than a year ago.

But they say their case was dropped.

“I’m done crying. I’m pissed off,” the mother said Saturday at an indoor playground at a fast food restaurant.

The Daily News has agreed not to identify the parents to protect the boy’s identity.
The mother says her son was 2 years old when he started staying at Patti’s Day Care in April 2006.

“He was a completely different child” when he came home from day care, she said. “He’d wake up in the middle of the night, screaming” and struggled against anyone who tried to change his diaper.

“The last straw” was when she picked him up and found his diaper completely full and filthy, she said. She pulled him from Patti’s in May and took him to stay with his grandmother in Alabama.

The grandmother called just days later and said the boy had an infection and that it was getting worse.

“They about didn’t let me leave the state of Alabama with him” after doctors examined the infection, she said.

It turned out to be sexually transmitted.

Doctors in Alabama suspected abuse, and the mother had to prove to them that she’d already called the Florida child abuse hotline against Patti’s Day Care before they let her take her son back home.



http://www.nwfdailynews.com/article/9330
 
AND HER CASE WAS DROPPED?!?!?! Sounds like another case of Department of Human Services (or whatever they call it there) messed up severely AGAIN.

I am glad he decided to play executioner, but so relieved he didn't decide to take anyone else with him.
 
AND HER CASE WAS DROPPED?!?!?! Sounds like another case of Department of Human Services (or whatever they call it there) messed up severely AGAIN.

I am glad he decided to play executioner, but so relieved he didn't decide to take anyone else with him.


This is unusual as most will go forever with their charades. I too am glad he chose this route.
 
The child was diagnosed with genital warts....a 3 yr old little boy....Can you imagine!!!! I really don't know what I would have done if I were this parent but you probably would have had a thread about it!:furious:
 
AND HER CASE WAS DROPPED?!?!?! Sounds like another case of Department of Human Services (or whatever they call it there) messed up severely AGAIN.

I am glad he decided to play executioner, but so relieved he didn't decide to take anyone else with him.

After reading your post I went back to the top of the thread to look- uh huh, Florida again. I don't want to insult any of you who live there, but some areas do have a problem with doing proper investigations of abuse charges.
 
How in the world could they have dropped the case? Was LE involved in the complaint or just CPS? I would have taken my child straight to LE first. I don't see how they could have dropped the case when this little guy had a sexually transmitted disease. I just wonder how many other little kids this guy abused. It usually doesn't end with just one. I would imagine LE will investigate and notify every parent who has had a little child in that Day Care to see if anything happened to their children. I think the abuser did the right thing! He probably didn't want to face the charges he knew were coming. I doubt that he took his own life to save his family or anyone else humilation or money.
 
How in the world could they have dropped the case? Was LE involved in the complaint or just CPS? I would have taken my child straight to LE first. I don't see how they could have dropped the case when this little guy had a sexually transmitted disease. I just wonder how many other little kids this guy abused. It usually doesn't end with just one. I would imagine LE will investigate and notify every parent who has had a little child in that Day Care to see if anything happened to their children. I think the abuser did the right thing! He probably didn't want to face the charges he knew were coming. I doubt that he took his own life to save his family or anyone else humilation or money.

I agree...

It's heartbreaking to imagine a 3 year old suffering from genital warts (Herpes). It would be painful for the little guy and it is a lifelong disease :(

Why the heck did the charges get dropped??

Wonder how many other kids who stayed at this hellhole will show up with Herpes??

Glad he killed himself because if I had been those parents, I'd have done it for him.

Sami
 
Genital warts and Herpes are two separate types of venereal disease.
 
Genital warts and Herpes are two separate types of venereal disease.

I wanted to correct that but didn't. Genital warts can be treated successfully and have been so since the 80's with laser surgery. Herpes is a viral infection that stays with you for life and is subject to onset without provocation. Genital warts can and do cause cancer of the cervix so this is not to be taken lightly.
 
An update>
http://www.weartv.com/newsroom/fl/topstory/topstory1.shtml

More allegations tonight in the case of the daycare worker who shot himself as authorities were searching his place.
Authorities say more children are reporting abuse involving Pattti's Daycare in Fort Walton Beach.
Today they talked to the public about the case.
Channel Three's Dan Thomas is live in Okaloosa County with more details, Dan?
Investigators told us today they're testing the body of daycare co-owner Jan Ritchie for STD's... specifically genital warts.
But they're holding to their finding that an earlier allegation... That Ritchie gave warts to a 2 year old ... is unfounded.
They've brought in parents and children who used Patti's Daycare to talk to counselors and doctors.
Jan Ritchie is the only suspect in the case but authorities say the investigation is not over yet.
Ron Gay: "We seized a lot of items from that house that need to be evaluated."
Gay: "Things we would look for would be focused earlier computers, computer media storage devices that type of thing because obviously some perpetrators have a tendency to want to have a trophy."
They'll only talk in hypotheticals.
It's been nearly a week since the raid happened and authorities still will not say anything about what evidence they found.
Janice Thomas/DCF: "We base a lot of action based on what children tell us and how they tell us."
Ron Gay/Okaloosa Sheriff's Office: "Direct information from the child and during the forensic interview is probably going to be heavily weighted for the case."
And it's that information investigators hinted they did not have in 2006... When a 2 year old in Jan Ritchie's care --- who couldn't yet talk -- turned up with genital warts.
Gay/Okaloosa Sheriff's Office: "We determined that there was no probable cause and that the case was unfounded at that time and it's still closed."
The investigation took about a month and there are no plans to re-open it.
Investigators gave more merit to the recent allegations coming from an older child who was able to talk.
Dr. Lynn Keith/Emerald Coast Children's Advocacy Center: I think it is what this alleged victim has told us.
Dr. Keith: "One needs to constantly communicate with your child ... Name body parts ... Nothing should be kept secret."
So far investigators say there have been no other children diagnosed with any STDs.

I would think the wife would be able to tell LE if this guy had the STD. Why would you want to withhold info like that if so....that's just wrong!
 
An update>
http://www.weartv.com/newsroom/fl/topstory/topstory1.shtml



I would think the wife would be able to tell LE if this guy had the STD. Why would you want to withhold info like that if so....that's just wrong!

Someone gave the child an STD. Whether it was the deceased man or someone else, the investigation needs to continue. Dropping it is crazy-unless the family refused to testify. But it is against the law to knowingly transmit STDs. Isn't this a public health matter, with or without any crime attached??
 
I wanted to correct that but didn't. Genital warts can be treated successfully and have been so since the 80's with laser surgery. Herpes is a viral infection that stays with you for life and is subject to onset without provocation. Genital warts can and do cause cancer of the cervix so this is not to be taken lightly.

Here are the CDC links explaining the difference between HPV and HSV:

STD Facts - Human papillomavirus (HPV)
http://www.cdc.gov/std/hpv/stdfact-hpv.htm

vs

HSV (herpes simplex virus)

http://www.cdc.gov/std/herpes/default.htm

So sad for the little one!




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Found this while looking for some more updates:

http://www.leagle.com/decision/In FDCO 20100921661/LANTANA INSURANCE, LTD. v. RITCHIE#

It was an interesting read. Basically he took out an extra clause in his insurance policy for abuse (yeah.. Pretty sickening really) and the insurance company were trying to only pay $50,000 instead of $250,000 to the victims. There were 5 victims in total. Long story short the insurance company lost and had to pay the full amount.

Sent from my LG-D855 using Tapatalk
 

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