Hidden Monsters

Stories pulled up from Thursday again run the gamut, from people who must seem monsterly from the outside to those who keep their monsters well-hidden behind trusted facades.

In California 25-year-old Shane Adair Vicars was an after-school instructor who used his position of access and power to molest multiple children participating in the program. This is his third role in child-centered jobs. One can only imagine the true number of victims.

Another story out of Missouri will have you thinking twice about whom you trust with access to your children. Captain of the police force for Fredericktown and trusted Boy Scout leader, 42-year old Kenneth Tomlinson II admitted to sexually abusing boys.

In South Sioux City, Nebraska a repeated criminal is now being charged in connection with a sexual assault of a barely teenage girl. According to court documents, Juan Antonio Hernandez, 37, was drunk, forced a 10-year old to drive him and the victim to a makeshift campground where he sexually assaulted the 13-year old.

Back to California where medical records on a dead 5-year old boy out of Sacramento reveal that "the only areas of the child's body not diagrammed with injuries are the palms of his hands." The boy died while in the care of the mother's boyfriend, Eduardo Zamora. The mother, Amber Ingram is also charged. Also in California, Albert Frank Clifford and Courtney Alice Osborn are charged with abusing a 2-year old girl. After the child presented with bruises, medical examinations revealed that she also had arm and foot fractures, as well as a previous skull fracture.

In Connecticut, John J. Berkery, 35, and Christine M. Berkery, 32, were arrested and charged with two counts each of risk of injury to a minor and cruelty to persons. Their one-year old and fourteen-year old children have been removed from the home.

Vaughn M. Parker, out of Maryland is accused of repeatedly punching his teenage daughter in the face during a dispute.

In New York, 21-year old Kimberly Shaffer was arrested for child endangerment when she failed to seek medical care for her baby after 23-year old Tyler Barrett assaulted him. Barrett allegedly hit the ten-month old in the face with a bottle, causing a black eye and cuts. The baby also had severe diaper rash.

Kyle Rogers, 3, died of blunt head injuries after being left in the care of a relative. Victor Weber, 30, was sentenced to 57 months to 15 years in prison for the death. Reports said that Weber had been hitting the boy in the head with his hand for a period of six months.

Another story of a child's murder comes out of Denver, Colorado. Thirty-one-year old Jacob Garcia is accused of injuring his girlfriends 18-month-old son so badly that the child died. The toddler suffered "subdural bleeding in the brain" and had bruises on his body. Garcia maintains that the child ran into a hallway and fell. Also in Colorado, Milagro Espinal, 37, was charged with domestic violence, assault, child abuse, reckless endangerment and driving while under the influence of alcohol.

In Arizona Terri Sullivan, 27, told a judge, "I did not do what I was supposed to do," after her child starved to death. Sullivan admitted that not only did she not regularly feed her baby, but she did not obtain help when it became clear the baby was dying. The baby was 6-weeks -old when she died. She will serve a life term with parole possible after 25 years. The baby's three other siblings are in Child Protective Services.

Clifton Haugen, 23, blinded his 4-month-old in a beating. Again, after arriving at the hospital, doctors determined that in addition to the current traumatic brain injury and fractured ribs, the child had several older injuries in various states of healing. The father states he was merely holding the boy when he went limp. The mother claims the father fell with the child down a set of stairs.

Finally, out to beautiful Maui, where even the sunshine and warmth we find stories of coldness and neglect. Police say parents of a 7-year old and 11-year old failed to properly care and prtect their children when they allowed them to play with fireworks int he bed of a pickup truck shortly after midnight New Year's Day. Both children suffered second and third-degree burns.