Murder, manslaughter, violence, lies and alcoholism go hand-in-hand. The case of Michael Kane, Pamela Devitt (killed by an addict’s pit bulls), and a child, unprotected by social workers.
Victims of the month:
Michelle Kane, 43, who was stabbed to death while trying to flee her estranged husband Michael Kane, 46, on a suburban street in the West San Fernando Valley, CA. While she was granted a restraining order a couple of months earlier, to an addict this is like poking a stick in the eye, which may cause him to react and lash out in much more destructive ways. Kane, a teacher at a Los Angeles Unified School District elementary school (in the process of protecting worthy members, unions enable the worst ones), had already committed a number of malicious acts and made numerous threats, including a promise to cut her throat. While she knew enough to describe her husband’s “long history of drug abuse” (he’d used heroin and methamphetamine), she was under the impression he had an “undiagnosed bipolar disorder.” This may have kept her in the marriage for 12 years—“oh, I’m sure some sort of prescribed medication will help him,” and we just don’t want to leave someone who is sick. The trouble is, there is no way to diagnose most mental disorders (i.e., bipolar, sociopathy, narcissism) until the afflicted is long sober, when we usually find that substance addiction merely mimicked the disorder. Michelle Kane was clearly a victim of addiction and, worse, she was a victim of the all-pervasive myths and misunderstandings surrounding the disease.
Pamela Devitt, 63, who died while taking a morning stroll through her neighborhood when a pack of pit bulls mauled her, dragged her 50 yards, scalped her and removed her arm. The alleged owner of the dogs, Alex Jackson, 29, is charged with murder. This is not the first incident involving his dogs: he was also charged with assault with a deadly weapon, stemming from an earlier altercation in which he is accused of throwing a rock at a horse rider after his dogs attacked the rider’s horse (yes, you read that right: the horse didn’t attack anyone, the dogs attacked the horse and then Jackson threw a rock at the rider). After Devitt’s death, homicide investigators found six dogs and two mixed breeds at Jackson’s home, along with a marijuana-growing operation, leading to additional charges on various drug-related offenses. As regular readers of TAR might surmise, I doubt Jackson was doing only pot; meth is very popular in this area (the Antelope Valley, north of Los Angeles). Regular readers also know that bad pets, including pit bulls (which I understand can be wonderful pets), are usually raised by people turned bad by alcohol or other-drug addiction.
Gabriel Fernandez, 8, dead after his mother’s boyfriend admitted he beat Gabriel repeatedly for lying and “being dirty,” following six investigations into abuse allegations involving the mother over nearly a decade by the Los Angeles County’s Department of Children and Family Services. Gabriel died of injuries from his latest beating, which resulted in a cracked skull, three broken ribs and bruised and burned skin. All but one of the investigations found prior allegations to be “unfounded,” despite the fact that his teacher told authorities he often appeared bruised and battered at school. Gabriel’s death is not the only instance of gross malfeasance on the part of Social Services: no workers have been fired in 15 instances where children died, even when errors on their part were found to be “egregious.”
Gabriel’s mother, Pearl Fernandez, first came to the attention of social workers a decade ago when another son suffered a head injury resulting from a car accident; he was not wearing a seat belt. A year later, after beating the same son she told a relative she didn’t want him; while social workers found that complaint was unfounded, he (along with other siblings) went to live with relatives soon after. Despite an admission to being involved with gangs and drugs and a subsequent conviction for using an unspecified weapon in a reckless manner, Fernandez was able to reclaim Gabriel, along with two other children, when he was 2 years old. Fernandez told social workers she was concerned about the treatment of her children by relatives; a cousin told authorities “it was for the welfare money.” Less than a week later, despite the fact that social workers confirmed new allegations of physical abuse, she was allowed to enter counseling and keep her children. Several more instances of confirmed physical abuse followed in quick succession, including numerous bruises, a busted lip and bruised dots all over his face from being shot with a BB gun by his mother.
The problem in nearly all (if not all) such cases—and there is a current backlog of 3,450 of them in L.A. County—is alcohol and other drug addiction in a parent. Rather than being coerced into abstinence, which is the starting point for sobriety, social workers counsel, cajole and otherwise do nothing (and possibly may not be allowed to do what’s right by L.A. County rules, a topic for a future article). This is a recipe for ensuring the abuse continues, at untold cost to innocent children and society at large—which has to pay for human beings made and kept less than worthless by their drugs of choice.
Story of the month:
An article, “Friend unable to prevent killing,” in The Los Angeles Times reported that Michael and Michelle Kane, whose tragic tale is reported above under “victim of the month,” declared bankruptcy in 2012. The article, written by Jean Merl and Joseph Serna, claimed the Kane’s financial problems stemmed from the purchase of their home in the San Fernando Valley in 2002, which needed “landscaping, appliances and various other improvements,” paid for with credit cards. The story claimed, “When the housing market crashed, it also doomed their plan to tap their home equity to pay the bills.”
The trouble with this narrative is that the real estate bubble had barely begun in 2002. Prices nearly doubled in the San Fernando Valley from that point to the peak in 2005-2007. The fact that either they didn’t refinance when they could have or refinanced and already took equity out for other purposes shows an appalling lack of financial common sense and judgment. Such poor judgment is a great clue to addiction. We could easily have ascribed high odds of addiction in one or both, even if we knew nothing else about the couple.*
Worse, Merl and Serna repeated the claims in the Kane’s bankruptcy declaration without any discussion, skepticism or questioning whatsoever: “We didn’t use the cards to buy expensive toys or take extravagant trips around the world. The charges were for our general living expenses, such as mortgage payments, auto payments, food, insurance and utilities.”
HUH?!!! They paid ordinary and necessary living expenses by piling on more debt?!!! The so-called journalists merely repeat the claim as if there’s nothing wrong with using debt to pay “general living expenses,” including mortgage and auto payments—which are themselves repayments of debt!**
Merl and Serna further enable the Kane’s miserable financial behaviors by repeating Michael Kane’s claim that he spent “a significant amount” on school supplies and gifts to “incentivize” students. They also repeated his assertion that “because I taught in an underprivileged area, I even bought some of the students clothing when I noticed some students coming to class wearing the same thing every day.” As an Enrolled Agent tax professional the most significant amount I’ve ever deducted for such expenses was maybe $2,000-$3,000, and for teachers who could afford it. Someone who owes $166,000 on credit cards is not that person. Oh, and that “underprivileged area” he taught in? Tarzana, California, with a median income of nearly $70,000 in 2011.
The fact that Merl and Serna make excuse after excuse for an estranged husband who murders his wife in cold blood and who was at large at the time they wrote the article is nothing less than astounding. To repeat such bald assertions without even noting flagrant incongruencies in their bankruptcy claim is appalling journalistic malfeasance.
* With limited information, addictionologists would distrust this couple and avoid initiating any kind of relationship, whether personal, business or professional—and certainly wouldn’t lend them money.
** Similar to how the entire country is being run, isn’t it?