KY - Parents get drunk and high - leave 5 week old in oven

not_my_kids

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http://www.wishtv.com/dpps/news/strange/cops-stoned-dad-leaves-baby-in-oven-jgr_3278617
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/03/16/kentucky.oven.baby/?hpt=T2&imw=Y

Larry Long is blessed. He has a job where he can smoke pot, enough money for strong whiskey, and a five week old son. Larry also has a problem. He apparently hallucinates, as happened on Sunday night/Monday morning. Larry smoked some pot at his cook's job, went home and split a fifth of whiskey with the baby's mother, Brandy Hatton. She then went to bed, leaving a drunk, high man in contact with her brand new son. At some point, Larry began to hallucinate, according to him, and placed the baby in the oven, luckily not turning it on and leaving the door ajar. His cries were loud enough to awaken Brandy, who retrieved her child from the oven...after several hours, at 5:30 the next morning. The baby is now with relatives, and Long was arrested.

But remember, folks, none of this is Larry's fault, according to Larry. The pot must have been laced with something. That's his story and he's sticking to it.
Apparently, it's not Brandy's fault either, as she only had 4-5 shots and let Long finish the bottle.

The incident was not reported to CPS and LE until Long called a psychiatric crisis line after learning what he had done, even though an ambulance crew responded at the time and transported little one to the hospital.
He has a lousy 10000 bail and Brandy was not arrested.
 
:( Glad the baby wasn't harmed and is with someone else now.
 
Wow. Just, wow.

It's kind of unfortunate that he's now in jail instead of the psychiatric facility he called, for some rehab he obviously needs (and reached out for!). Otherwise he'll be out in a short time and still getting wasted. I hope they keep the poor baby away from this guy permanently unless he rehabs for good!
 
Per HLN, they have two other older kids that are also with other family.
 
I'm thinking if mistaking his baby for a roast isn't enough of a wake up call to make him swear off the booze and drugs, likely nothing will be. Maybe not, it sounds like he's trying to find excuses why it's okay to go on like before. The pot must have been laced... his voluntarily consuming far too much has nothing to do with it.
 
the sad thing is the lawyers will make him out as a hero for not turning the oven on.
 
i wonder given the constant stupor of both his parents if the poor little guy doesnt have fetal alcohol syndrome.
 
This makes the guy who left his infant in the bushes look like Daddy Of The Year.

In all fairness sane people do NOT put infants in an oven. High, drunk or whatever there's no putting babies in a da*n oven.
 
My initial reaction to this thread is going to be as foreign as anyone might expect.

I worked with a man who is deaf; an area of his brain/spinal cord that can not be fixed to restore his hearing. He told me ( and I had no reason to doubt him 15 or so years ago) that he was born premature, when it was not uncommon for mothers to bundle a premie, leave the oven door wide open and place the babies on the door of the oven to keep them warm. I am sure he is in his early 50's now....

When he first shared this story in the 90's, my mouth fell to the floor... and he just answered my niave questions..... and descriped without hesitancy how his mom bundled him and exactly what she did....

Also from the article you linked:

"He actually called a mental health crisis line immediately thereafter and told them that he had done this. And they contacted us," Hayden said.

HE being the father. So obviously the guy realized "I am a little more messed up than I realized and I need help" and made the call saying so.....

I'm going to hope for the best on this one based on the few facts listed in the article, and my surprising history of actually knowing a person who turned out just fine- married, kids, great job who was actually heated by an oven instead of an incubator in the 'old days'.

Prayers for this child and his mom and dad.... I hope they get the help and support they need.

JMO
 
I figure I'm like most moms.. When my child was 5 weeks old I was the one too busy hallucinating as I didn't get a single wink of sleep due to feeding my child at a nonstop rate. Don't 5 weeks old drink milk every 2-3 hours? I also was too busy admiring every motion my child made, and taking pictures of EVERYTHING.

Anyways.. that's just moo that the mom should be guilty of something. She was there and not doing her parental duty.
 
Wow. Just, wow.

It's kind of unfortunate that he's now in jail instead of the psychiatric facility he called, for some rehab he obviously needs (and reached out for!). Otherwise he'll be out in a short time and still getting wasted. I hope they keep the poor baby away from this guy permanently unless he rehabs for good!

Please folks, don't get me wrong. I'm not excusing this guy at all, but at least he reached out for help when he found out about this. The guy wants help. I think that action explains the low bail. If I were the judge I'd give him 3 months in jail and 5 years probation requiring weekly drug tests that also looked for alcohol.

If the guy can change he may become an important player in teaching others about the dangers of drugs and alcohol.

JMO
 
It is exceedingly rare that someone reaches out for help. For that reason alone, I think there may be some hope, provided that he gets some intensive inpatient treatment somewhere. I say this because weekly drug tests for alcohol wouldn't be enough. Alcohol metabolizes and leaves the body within 24 hours, so to be accurate, it would have to be daily tests, to make sure he wasn't drinking.

The fact that he didn't turn the oven on, even while hallucinating, is a good sign. Whatever is wrong with his brain possibly is not too far gone.
My biggest issue with this case, even with the scathing write up that I gave both parents, is that if this child had been with serious druggies that would turn the oven on next time, we would likely be reading about a dead child, because the initial mandated reporters at the hospital didn't do thier jobs. The calls to check on the baby didn't happen immediately. That bothers me.

Yes, I do think that this is one set of parents that might have a chance if they can turn it around now.
Obviously, if the oven had been on or there were other reports or signs of abuse, my take would be different.
 
What struck me is that he's a cook by profession. If he was hallucinating I wonder if he was thinking he was at work?

Anotherwords if he was a CPA would he have put the baby in a desk drawer? I can't help the way my mind works, but that's exactly what I wondered about. Like why didn't he put the baby in a closet? Or heck even bushes like the knucklehead left the infant in the bushes?
 
Fortunately, this case had a happier outcome than one in my area last year. The "parents" of a toddler here, left the baby strapped into its carseat fully dressed in a snowsuit for days as he cried, starved, soiled himself to the point of open raw bleeding infected wounds while they played video games and got stoned. The baby died, imagining how that poor poor little baby suffered still keeps me awake at night. WHat sort of self-involved monster do you have to be to ignore the frantic screams of a starved, bleeding, stinking little baby? How do you shut out those cries and do nothing?

The parents only excuse for their behavior was that they were new parents and overwhelmed. It is repulsive to me that people who have absolutely no business being parents keep popping our children without a single thought as to what they plan on doing with/for/to them once they arrive.
 
Fortunately, this case had a happier outcome than one in my area last year. The "parents" of a toddler here, left the baby strapped into its carseat fully dressed in a snowsuit for days as he cried, starved, soiled himself to the point of open raw bleeding infected wounds while they played video games and got stoned. The baby died, imagining how that poor poor little baby suffered still keeps me awake at night. WHat sort of self-involved monster do you have to be to ignore the frantic screams of a starved, bleeding, stinking little baby? How do you shut out those cries and do nothing?

The parents only excuse for their behavior was that they were new parents and overwhelmed. It is repulsive to me that people who have absolutely no business being parents keep popping our children without a single thought as to what they plan on doing with/for/to them once they arrive.



Benjamin haunts me too. For weeks after I heard about his case, I would wake up to a baby screaming in pain, and mine would be sleeping soundly.
Still happens every now and then.
 
he has a drunk, and a drunk and a drug addict for parents.

and one of them nearly turned him into dinner.

excuse me if i dont see a bright future with them as his parents?
 

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