2-6-2008 Florida:
ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. -- Officials have released the name of child rape suspect shot and killed by deputies Wednesday afternoon. They say Geoffrey Shaub had molested a 7-year-old Orlando boy.
Schaub also is believed to have multiple victims that he raped in both Orange County and the city of Orlando. Since the shooting, investigators were seen pulling bags and boxes of evidence from his home in a rural east Orange County neighborhood.
"It's hard to wrap my arms around what happened. I didn't see that side of him. It's still hard to absorb," said neighbor Sharon Alilcia.
But Luis Martinez said, "I knew something was wrong with that guy. I knew it, I knew it. I was telling my wife I don't want my kids around this guy."
Neighbors couldn't believe what was happening in their neighborhood. They said the man recently moved to the area. They said he spent his afternoons sitting on the front porch, sipping wine and waiting for the school bus to stop.
"Bus would stop, kids would get in the cars and he'd be in his brown chair on the front porch, said Emily Kipp, a neighbor.
Schaub was also an ordained minister who worked as a custodian at the Oviedo Presbytarian Church. Pastor Paul Ogne would not answer when asked if he knew Schaub was a sex offender. Ogne said that was part of his pastor/member confidentiality. He did praise his part-time custodian and fill-in pastor who recently graduated from an Oviedo seminary with a masters in biblical studies.
Late Wednesday afternoon, Orange County deputies and Orlando police sex units were tracking a man wanted for allegedly raping multiple children, some under the age of seven. They were sitting in an unmarked vehicle outside of his home waiting on a search warrant. The suspect got in his car to leave.
Sheriff Beary said his deputies boxed in the suspect, trying to leave him no option to run while they waited to get a warrant to search his home. That's when, deputies said, the suspect, pulled out a gun and tried to conceal it under a towel.
"Multiple victims, so this case is going to continue to unravel," said Sheriff Kevin Beary.
At least two deputies opened fire, striking the suspect.
"They did what they were supposed to do, that is take defensive action," Beary said.
The defensive action left the man dead. No details were released on the number of shots fired. Investigators from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, Orlando police and the sheriff's office are working to piece it together.
People in the rural east Orange County community not far from Colonial Drive were shocked by their neighbor's death, but grateful he's out of their neighborhood. ..more.. by WFTV.com
Man who aimed at cops is linked to church
The convicted child molester, killed in the confrontation, was working as a janitor.
2-8-2008 Florida:
The convicted child molester shot and killed during a confrontation with Orange County deputies was a church janitor and theological-school student, authorities said Thursday.
Geoffrey Schaub, 62, of east Orange County, was fatally shot about 3:15 p.m. Wednesday outside his home in the 15500 block of Vienna Drive. Deputies said they fired when he pointed a single-shot flare gun wrapped in a cloth at two deputies who were assigned to perform surveillance outside his home.
Orlando police and Orange County deputies were investigating him in the molestation of a 7-year-old boy. Schaub recently moved from Orlando to the east Orange County residence where he was shot.
Investigators think he attacked the child multiple times at his Orlando home and one time at the east Orange residence, said Sgt. Rich Mankewich of the sheriff's sex-crimes unit.
A preliminary search of Schaub's home computer Thursday turned up child pornography, Mankewich said. Schaub had a prior conviction for fondling a child in Miami during the 1980s, according to records. He also was arrested inNew York during the 1970s in another attack on a child, Mankewich said.
Schaub worked 12 hours a week as a janitor at Oviedo Presbyterian Church and studied at nearby Reformed Theological Seminary, said church Pastor Paul Ogne. News of the fatal shooting reached the pastor just as Ash Wednesday services were beginning, he said.
"The church is heartbroken," Ogne said. "The fact that the church wasn't the instrument used to reach the child doesn't make us feel better."
Schaub attended the church for several years and taught an adult bible class in 2007, Ogne said. He did not serve in a role that placed him in close contact with children, the pastor said. The church is contacting members with children to make them aware of the issue. ..more.. by Willoughby Mariano can be reached at wmariano@orlandosentinel.com and at 407-420-5171.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
DE- Ailing sex offender chokes to death at Dover clinic
A man with Huntington's Disease is at the heart of this case. More info: "Huntington's Disease The Granddaddy of Them All" by Louise Wilkinson. According to the Americans w/Disabilities Act, the law must make reasonable accommodations, here it refused to do so which resulted in his death!2-25-2008 Delaware
DOVER — A 22-year-old Huntington's disease victim who was denied a bed in a state health care facility because he was a registered sex offender choked to death today at a Dover mental health clinic.
Family members said they were told that Joseph Heverin, 22, whose muscle control had deteriorated to the point where he often fell and had to be put in a wheelchair, choked to death on a sandwich at Dover Behavioral Health Systems.
"He was dead when he got to the hospital," said Heverin's brother, Paul Vrem.
Vrem said he learned of his brother's death after driving to Dover Behavioral to pick him up for a dental appointment.
"They told me that he had choked on a grilled cheese sandwich and that they were administering CPR," Vrem said.
William Weaver, chief operating officer of Dover Behavioral Health Systems, and other clinic officials did not immediately return telephone messages seeking comment.
Colin Faulkner, director of public safety for Kent County, said paramedics were dispatched to Dover Behavioral Health shortly before 12:30 p.m. in response to a report of a person choking.
"It would appear that he went into cardiac arrest, full arrest, as the result of an unresolved choking incident," Faulkner said.
Jay Lynch, a spokesman for the state Department of Health and Social Services, confirmed Heverin's death.
Heverin's mother, Dianne Vrem, said Dover Behavioral officials kept family members in a waiting room until Heverin had been taken away by ambulance, and that Kent General officials also refused her request to be with her son.
"I just wanted to hold him and let him know that his mom was there," she said.
A spokeswoman for Kent General did not immediately return a telephone message this afternoon.
Last week, Heverin was the subject of an Associated Press article describing the bureaucratic limbo in which his criminal past and his disease — an incurable, degenerative neurological disorder that also killed his father and other family members — had left him.
Officials at Dover Behavioral, a short-stay psychiatric facility where Heverin had been admitted last summer for treatment of depression, had sought and received court permission to discharge him, arguing that he is not mentally ill. He remained at the facility as his guardianship case worked its way through the court system.
Even though a court declared Heverin "a disabled person" who was "unable to act in his own best interest," health and social service officials refused to place him in state-run long-term care facility. They argued that he was neither developmentally disabled nor mentally ill.
The primary reason for their opposition, however, was that Heverin was a registered sex offender. He had twice been convicted of unlawful sexual contact, incidents that his supporters believe stemmed from the effects of Huntington's disease, a hereditary disorder that has been linked with inappropriate sexual behavior.
Dover Behavioral officials said they had tried repeatedly for more than a year to find placement options for Heverin, but no facility was willing to take him.
Kristopher Starr, an attorney appointed as a fact-finder in Heverin's guardianship case, submitted a report earlier this month excoriating state officials for refusing to place Heverin in a skilled nursing facility, at least not until he is "bedridden."
"They finally got what they wanted; they won't have to deal with the problem anymore," Paul Vrem said Monday. ..more.. by RANDALL CHASE, Associated Press
Ailing sex offender in bureaucratic dilemma
2-19-2008 Delaware
DOVER -- The Huntington's disease that killed his grandmother, his father and several other members of his family is now slowly eating away at Joseph Heverin's life.
Heverin, 22, gets around at Dover Behavioral Health System, where he was admitted last summer for treatment for depression, in a wheelchair. His movements, according to a court-appointed observer, are "spastic, and at most times, uncoordinated."
"Joe falls frequently -- our X-ray company knows him by name," DBHS Chief Operating Officer William Weaver wrote last month to Heverin's public guardian.
Dover Behavioral, a short-stay psychiatric facility, has sought and received court permission to discharge Heverin, arguing that he is not mentally ill.
If discharged, however, Heverin could wind up on the streets.
Even though a court has declared Heverin "a disabled person" who is "unable to act in his own best interest," health and social service officials are unwilling to place him in a state-run long-term care facility. They contend that he is neither developmentally disabled nor mentally ill.
The overriding problem, however, is that Heverin is a registered sex offender.
He has twice been convicted of unlawful sexual contact, incidents that his supporters believe stem from the effects of Huntington's disease, which has been linked with inappropriate sexual behavior.
"An individual who is a registered sex offender, who is mobile, presents significant issues," said Department of Health and Social Services Secretary Vincent Meconi.
DHSS officials say they have tried repeatedly for more than a year to find placement options for Heverin, but that no facility is willing to take him, even though there is no law prohibiting public or private health facilities from accepting sex offenders for treatment.
"There's no law that prevents us from taking him, and there's no law that compels us to take him," said state Public Health Director Dr. Jaime Rivera.
Heverin's mother, Dianne Vrem, has sought help from state lawmakers, to no avail.
"He's at the point now where he needs a structured environment," said Vrem, who was appointed co-guardian of her son last year but said she is no longer able to meet his needs at home.
Home, at one point, was a recreational vehicle parked in Vrem's yard, in which Heverin lived for a year until Kent County officials ordered it removed.
Appeals to the state Department of Justice to have Heverin's name removed from the sex offender registry, in the hope of ending what one attorney described as "an unfortunate medical stalemate," also have gone nowhere.
"From what I have seen, most people who are on the sex offender registry suffer negative consequences as a result of being on it," state prosecutor Richard Andrews wrote last year in a response to a legislative plea for help. "He is unfortunately a recidivist offender."
State law allows for offenders to be reclassified or removed from the registry under certain conditions, including the passage of at least 10 years since sentencing. But the Justice Department said the law does not allow for Heverin to be removed from the registry.
Even if Heverin were somehow removed from the registry, he still likely would be barred from the Delaware Hospital for the Chronically Ill, which has treated Huntington's patients in the past.A University of Maryland doctor who has worked with Heverin contested Rivera's statement that Heverin is a threat.
Rivera said DHCI would deny admission to a person deemed to be a danger to himself or others.
"The thing that is most problematic to us is that he's a mobile, convicted sex offender," Rivera said. "If he can get around, if he can move himself around in a wheelchair, I think we would consider him mobile."
Kristopher Starr, an attorney appointed as a fact-finder in Heverin's guardianship case, excoriated DHSS and Rivera for refusing to place Heverin in a skilled nursing facility, at least not until he is "bedridden."
"Such a position from a state physician, a per se government actor, is disquieting," Starr wrote in a letter to the Court of Chancery.
"I ... do not feel that he is at risk for re-offending with inappropriate sexual behavior," wrote Dr. Karen Anderson, a professor of psychiatry and neurology and director of the University of Maryland's Huntington's Disease Clinic.
Anderson concluded that, in addition to moderate to severe Huntington's, Heverin suffered from dementia and major depression, which was in partial remission but included anxiety about his placement issues.
Robert M. Stein, a psychologist and founder of the Center for Neurobehavioral Health in Lancaster, Pa., said the behavioral problems associated with Huntington's disease usually manifest themselves before the physical problems. "He's probably going to die within about 10 years," Stein said. "He's on a steadily downward course." ..more.. by RANDALL CHASE, Associated Press
Friday, February 15, 2008
Man convicted of Santa Cruz child molest killed in prison
2-14-2008 California:
FOLSOM -- A former Live Oak man serving a 400-year prison sentence at California State Prison-Sacramento was killed by another inmate Thursday morning, authorities reported.
Convicted child molester Shannon Lee Grailing, 53, died after Steven Matthew Schultz, a convicted murderer, slashed him across the neck with an apparent inmate-made weapon, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation reported.
Grailing was serving the longest prison sentenced meted out in Santa Cruz County history. He sodomized a 10-year-old boy in a Santa Cruz motel in 1996 and, the following year, was convicted of five counts of child molestation.
"It's a tragic end to a tragic case," Santa Cruz police spokesman Zach Friend said Thursday.
The fatal attack happened just before 8 a.m. as Grailing pushed a laundry cart through the yard at the facility, which is adjacent to Folsom State Prison. He was taken by ambulance to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 9:10 a.m.
Schultz, 28, from Placer County, has been held in the prison since May 1999 and is serving a sentence of 26 years to life for first-degree murder.
Prison staff and the Sacramento County District Attorney's Office are investigating Grailing's death as a homicide, officials reported. The connection between the two men and the motive for the killing was not immediately clear, and the prison spokeswoman was not available to comment
Grailing had been in the prison since July 1997.
Santa Cruz police arrested him in August 1996 for failing to notify authorities that he had moved to Oregon.
During the arrest, police found evidence at a Santa Cruz motel that Grailing had molested a 10-year-old boy there and new charges were filed.
A jury in 1997 convicted Grailing of sodomizing the child, who is the son of one of Grailing's friends. He told her he was taking the boy to the Boardwalk, but instead brought him to the Hitching Post motel on Soquel Avenue, molested him and took digital photos of the sex acts.
The boy later testified against Grailing and spoke at his sentencing hearing.
"I don't care what you're going to do with the rest of your life in prison, or whatever, but I do know that there's one less monster out there, one less person that will hurt an innocent child," the victim said when Grailing was sentenced.
A "three strikes" offender previously convicted of molesting two Watsonville boys and three boys in Washington state, Grailing was sentenced to 375 years for sodomizing the 10-year-old boy. In November 1997, the judge added another 25 years to the sentence because Grailing had failed to register as a sex offender after moving to Portland.
Grailing appealed the molestation conviction on the grounds the California's registered sex offender law, which requires some convicted sex offenders to report their residences to police, only applies to those who live in the state. The 6th District Court of Appeal ruled against Grailing.
Grailing's death is the second homicide at California State Prison-Sacramento in three weeks, an official said.
The prison houses more than 3,100 maximum-security inmates serving long sentences and those who have proved to be management problems at other institutions. The facility opened in 1986 and employs nearly 1,600 people. ..more.. by Jennifer Squires at 429-2449 or jsquires@santacruzsentinel.com.
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Sex offender slain at New Folsom Prison
An inmate at California State Prison, Sacramento, who was serving a 400-year sentence for molesting a child, was slashed in the throat and killed Thursday, prison officials said.
Shannon Lee Graling, 53, was slashed with an "inmate-made weapon" just before 8 a.m. while pushing a laundry cart, according to a prison news release. He died just over an hour later.
Prison officials said the suspect in the slashing is 28-year-old Steven Matthew Schultz, who is serving a 26-year-to-life sentence for first-degree murder out of Placer County.
Graling was convicted in Santa Cruz County in 1997 of five counts of lewd and lascivious acts on a child under the age of 14 and sentenced to 400 years, prion officials said. Also that year, Graling was sentenced to 25 years to life for failing to register as a sex offender. ..more.. by Ryan Lillis
FOLSOM -- A former Live Oak man serving a 400-year prison sentence at California State Prison-Sacramento was killed by another inmate Thursday morning, authorities reported.
Convicted child molester Shannon Lee Grailing, 53, died after Steven Matthew Schultz, a convicted murderer, slashed him across the neck with an apparent inmate-made weapon, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation reported.
Grailing was serving the longest prison sentenced meted out in Santa Cruz County history. He sodomized a 10-year-old boy in a Santa Cruz motel in 1996 and, the following year, was convicted of five counts of child molestation.
"It's a tragic end to a tragic case," Santa Cruz police spokesman Zach Friend said Thursday.
The fatal attack happened just before 8 a.m. as Grailing pushed a laundry cart through the yard at the facility, which is adjacent to Folsom State Prison. He was taken by ambulance to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 9:10 a.m.
Schultz, 28, from Placer County, has been held in the prison since May 1999 and is serving a sentence of 26 years to life for first-degree murder.
Prison staff and the Sacramento County District Attorney's Office are investigating Grailing's death as a homicide, officials reported. The connection between the two men and the motive for the killing was not immediately clear, and the prison spokeswoman was not available to comment
Grailing had been in the prison since July 1997.
Santa Cruz police arrested him in August 1996 for failing to notify authorities that he had moved to Oregon.
During the arrest, police found evidence at a Santa Cruz motel that Grailing had molested a 10-year-old boy there and new charges were filed.
A jury in 1997 convicted Grailing of sodomizing the child, who is the son of one of Grailing's friends. He told her he was taking the boy to the Boardwalk, but instead brought him to the Hitching Post motel on Soquel Avenue, molested him and took digital photos of the sex acts.
The boy later testified against Grailing and spoke at his sentencing hearing.
"I don't care what you're going to do with the rest of your life in prison, or whatever, but I do know that there's one less monster out there, one less person that will hurt an innocent child," the victim said when Grailing was sentenced.
A "three strikes" offender previously convicted of molesting two Watsonville boys and three boys in Washington state, Grailing was sentenced to 375 years for sodomizing the 10-year-old boy. In November 1997, the judge added another 25 years to the sentence because Grailing had failed to register as a sex offender after moving to Portland.
Grailing appealed the molestation conviction on the grounds the California's registered sex offender law, which requires some convicted sex offenders to report their residences to police, only applies to those who live in the state. The 6th District Court of Appeal ruled against Grailing.
Grailing's death is the second homicide at California State Prison-Sacramento in three weeks, an official said.
The prison houses more than 3,100 maximum-security inmates serving long sentences and those who have proved to be management problems at other institutions. The facility opened in 1986 and employs nearly 1,600 people. ..more.. by Jennifer Squires at 429-2449 or jsquires@santacruzsentinel.com.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sex offender slain at New Folsom Prison
An inmate at California State Prison, Sacramento, who was serving a 400-year sentence for molesting a child, was slashed in the throat and killed Thursday, prison officials said.
Shannon Lee Graling, 53, was slashed with an "inmate-made weapon" just before 8 a.m. while pushing a laundry cart, according to a prison news release. He died just over an hour later.
Prison officials said the suspect in the slashing is 28-year-old Steven Matthew Schultz, who is serving a 26-year-to-life sentence for first-degree murder out of Placer County.
Graling was convicted in Santa Cruz County in 1997 of five counts of lewd and lascivious acts on a child under the age of 14 and sentenced to 400 years, prion officials said. Also that year, Graling was sentenced to 25 years to life for failing to register as a sex offender. ..more.. by Ryan Lillis
Friday, February 1, 2008
FBI house raid linked to child porn
1-31-2008 Pennsylvania:
Federal investigators were looking for evidence of child pornography when they raided a Hilltown home Monday night, touching off a fatal shooting.
But whether Darius Hill, 39, a Marine veteran of the first Iraq war who is described as a “mountain of a man,” killed himself or died from one of the five gunshot wounds inflicted by law enforcement, was still unclear Wednesday.
Bucks County Coroner Dr. Joseph Campbell said Hill died of gunshot wounds, one of which was self-inflicted, but didn't have a conclusive answer as to which bullet caused his death.
Hill, a 1986 Pennridge High School graduate, was shot six times in his bedroom Monday just before 7 p.m. after FBI agents executed a federal search warrant, authorities said.
His most grievous wounds were gunshots to the mouth and chest, officials said. The shot to the mouth was believed to be the self-inflicted one, whereas the other gunshots came from law officers' guns.
On Wednesday, the FBI stepped back from its earlier statement that a coroner's report showed conclusively Hill shot himself to death.
“The information we had was premature and that we now realize that the coroner had not made a final determination,” said FBI spokeswoman Jerri Williams.
Friends and family said they couldn't believe the dedicated father of two young daughters would have committed suicide in the bedroom of the Callowhill Road home where he grew up. The sketchy narrative provided so far doesn't add up, Hill's mother said.
Hill's wife was told that he had put a gun into his mouth in the tense situation, friends and family said.
Bucks County District Attorney Michelle Henry said the warrants were granted for an investigation into possession and distribution of child pornography. She wouldn't say anything about the shooting besides stating that an investigation was ongoing.
Steven Gamvroulas, an agent in the Utah Attorney General's Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, said he'd received about 700 pieces of child pornography by e-mail from Hill specifically.
As an undercover agent, Gamvroulas joined a network that shared such images, and said he was just one member of many receiving the e-mails. Hill was not suspected of producing the pornography, Gamvroulas said.
Hill's computer was seized, according to his mother, Eileen Hill, but she rejected the idea that he was involved in anything illegal. “My son's not a seller of child pornography,” she said.
Hill said her family had hired a lawyer and expected answers to the unanswered questions surrounding his death. “Frankly, he was murdered,” she said.
“Even if you committed a murder they don't have the right to come in and murder you and say you did it to yourself,” she said. “If you shot yourself in the mouth, why would they shoot you? And if they shot you first, how could you shoot yourself in the mouth?”
A FBI shooting review team is examining the incident, and Bucks County detectives are conducting their own inquiry, but neither had any new details to share Wednesday.
County detectives were not involved in the raid, so they are a “neutral party,” Campbell said.
Eileen Hill gave this account of the events:
Darius Hill had just finished working out on a treadmill and was going upstairs to take a shower when the doorbell rang. The family had ordered a pizza, and his two young daughters, ages 3 and 5, ran toward the door. Hill's wife, Rebecca, answered the door and found FBI agents outside.
Agents told Rebecca Hill they had a search warrant, but wouldn't say what they were looking for, and pushed past her into the house. When they realized her husband was home, they went upstairs to the bedroom. Rebecca Hill heard voices, but not any shots.
Soon afterward, Hilltown police escorted Rebecca Hill and her two daughters to a squad car outside and later drove them to the police station. Only several hours later did they tell her that her husband had died.
A friend said that at 6 feet, 4 inches tall, Darius Hill was a “moving mountain of a man” and a fearless Marine. “He drove the lead tank in the center column going into Kuwait City” during the first Iraq war, said the friend, who asked not to be named.
His mother said Darius had joined the Marines straight out of high school and served for a dozen years, rising to staff sergeant.
Sheila Thoder, a family friend and the bookkeeper for Hill's contracting business, said he was proud of his daughters. “He adored them, and he was such an upbeat person. If anybody ever had any problems or something wasn't going well, he'd always be the one to say everything is going to work out,” she said.
“His wife is just inconsolable,” Thoder said. “She's devastated — absolutely devastated. One minute she was planning on what to have dinner with her husband — the next she was taken out and dragged to a police station. A few hours later was told her husband was dead.”
Eileen Hill said she had to tell her granddaughters they'd never see their father again.
The eldest daughter was stunned, Hill said.
“ "Daddy was going to take me to Chuck E. Cheese's for my birthday' ... and then she cried. She said, "We were supposed to go camping this summer',” she said. “It just tore me apart. I thought — oh my.” ..more.. by Jacob Fenton can be reached at 215-957-8166 or jfenton@phillyBurbs.com.
Pa. man fatally shot as federal officials sought child porn1-31-2008 Pennsylvania:
The Bucks County coroner says a Hilltown man was shot to death as FBI agents executed a search warrant at his home.
Dr. Joseph Campbell reported Wednesday that 39-year-old Darius Hill was shot six times Monday evening.
But Campbell says one of the wounds was self-inflicted and he does not know conclusively which one caused Hill's death.
Bucks County District Attorney Michelle Henry says the shooting is being investigated. She says the federal warrant was for investigation into possession and distribution of child pornography.
FBI spokeswoman Jerri Williams says an earlier statement that a coroner's report showed Hill had shot himself was premature. She says the FBI is conducting an internal investigation into the shooting. Bucks County detectives are also investigating. ..more.. by
Prosecutor: FBI Justified In Shooting Child Porn Suspect
2-15-2008 Pennsylvania:
LEVITTOWN, Pa. -- The top Bucks County prosecutor said FBI agents were justified when they fatally shot a child pornography suspect during a standoff at his home.
District Attorney Michelle Henry said Darius Hill was holding a loaded handgun and had lowered it toward the agents during the Jan. 28 raid.
The agents eventually shot the 39-year-old Hilltown Township man in the heart.
Investigators found that Hill then shot himself in the mouth. Henry said the agents thought he was returning fire, so they fired six more shots at him.
The agents had been at the home looking for child pornography but Hill had refused to surrender and held the gun to his chin and mouth for about 10 minutes. ..more.. by NBC10.com
Federal investigators were looking for evidence of child pornography when they raided a Hilltown home Monday night, touching off a fatal shooting.
But whether Darius Hill, 39, a Marine veteran of the first Iraq war who is described as a “mountain of a man,” killed himself or died from one of the five gunshot wounds inflicted by law enforcement, was still unclear Wednesday.
Bucks County Coroner Dr. Joseph Campbell said Hill died of gunshot wounds, one of which was self-inflicted, but didn't have a conclusive answer as to which bullet caused his death.
Hill, a 1986 Pennridge High School graduate, was shot six times in his bedroom Monday just before 7 p.m. after FBI agents executed a federal search warrant, authorities said.
His most grievous wounds were gunshots to the mouth and chest, officials said. The shot to the mouth was believed to be the self-inflicted one, whereas the other gunshots came from law officers' guns.
On Wednesday, the FBI stepped back from its earlier statement that a coroner's report showed conclusively Hill shot himself to death.
“The information we had was premature and that we now realize that the coroner had not made a final determination,” said FBI spokeswoman Jerri Williams.
Friends and family said they couldn't believe the dedicated father of two young daughters would have committed suicide in the bedroom of the Callowhill Road home where he grew up. The sketchy narrative provided so far doesn't add up, Hill's mother said.
Hill's wife was told that he had put a gun into his mouth in the tense situation, friends and family said.
Bucks County District Attorney Michelle Henry said the warrants were granted for an investigation into possession and distribution of child pornography. She wouldn't say anything about the shooting besides stating that an investigation was ongoing.
Steven Gamvroulas, an agent in the Utah Attorney General's Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, said he'd received about 700 pieces of child pornography by e-mail from Hill specifically.
As an undercover agent, Gamvroulas joined a network that shared such images, and said he was just one member of many receiving the e-mails. Hill was not suspected of producing the pornography, Gamvroulas said.
Hill's computer was seized, according to his mother, Eileen Hill, but she rejected the idea that he was involved in anything illegal. “My son's not a seller of child pornography,” she said.
Hill said her family had hired a lawyer and expected answers to the unanswered questions surrounding his death. “Frankly, he was murdered,” she said.
“Even if you committed a murder they don't have the right to come in and murder you and say you did it to yourself,” she said. “If you shot yourself in the mouth, why would they shoot you? And if they shot you first, how could you shoot yourself in the mouth?”
A FBI shooting review team is examining the incident, and Bucks County detectives are conducting their own inquiry, but neither had any new details to share Wednesday.
County detectives were not involved in the raid, so they are a “neutral party,” Campbell said.
Eileen Hill gave this account of the events:
Darius Hill had just finished working out on a treadmill and was going upstairs to take a shower when the doorbell rang. The family had ordered a pizza, and his two young daughters, ages 3 and 5, ran toward the door. Hill's wife, Rebecca, answered the door and found FBI agents outside.
Agents told Rebecca Hill they had a search warrant, but wouldn't say what they were looking for, and pushed past her into the house. When they realized her husband was home, they went upstairs to the bedroom. Rebecca Hill heard voices, but not any shots.
Soon afterward, Hilltown police escorted Rebecca Hill and her two daughters to a squad car outside and later drove them to the police station. Only several hours later did they tell her that her husband had died.
A friend said that at 6 feet, 4 inches tall, Darius Hill was a “moving mountain of a man” and a fearless Marine. “He drove the lead tank in the center column going into Kuwait City” during the first Iraq war, said the friend, who asked not to be named.
His mother said Darius had joined the Marines straight out of high school and served for a dozen years, rising to staff sergeant.
Sheila Thoder, a family friend and the bookkeeper for Hill's contracting business, said he was proud of his daughters. “He adored them, and he was such an upbeat person. If anybody ever had any problems or something wasn't going well, he'd always be the one to say everything is going to work out,” she said.
“His wife is just inconsolable,” Thoder said. “She's devastated — absolutely devastated. One minute she was planning on what to have dinner with her husband — the next she was taken out and dragged to a police station. A few hours later was told her husband was dead.”
Eileen Hill said she had to tell her granddaughters they'd never see their father again.
The eldest daughter was stunned, Hill said.
“ "Daddy was going to take me to Chuck E. Cheese's for my birthday' ... and then she cried. She said, "We were supposed to go camping this summer',” she said. “It just tore me apart. I thought — oh my.” ..more.. by Jacob Fenton can be reached at 215-957-8166 or jfenton@phillyBurbs.com.
Pa. man fatally shot as federal officials sought child porn1-31-2008 Pennsylvania:
The Bucks County coroner says a Hilltown man was shot to death as FBI agents executed a search warrant at his home.
Dr. Joseph Campbell reported Wednesday that 39-year-old Darius Hill was shot six times Monday evening.
But Campbell says one of the wounds was self-inflicted and he does not know conclusively which one caused Hill's death.
Bucks County District Attorney Michelle Henry says the shooting is being investigated. She says the federal warrant was for investigation into possession and distribution of child pornography.
FBI spokeswoman Jerri Williams says an earlier statement that a coroner's report showed Hill had shot himself was premature. She says the FBI is conducting an internal investigation into the shooting. Bucks County detectives are also investigating. ..more.. by
Prosecutor: FBI Justified In Shooting Child Porn Suspect
2-15-2008 Pennsylvania:
LEVITTOWN, Pa. -- The top Bucks County prosecutor said FBI agents were justified when they fatally shot a child pornography suspect during a standoff at his home.
District Attorney Michelle Henry said Darius Hill was holding a loaded handgun and had lowered it toward the agents during the Jan. 28 raid.
The agents eventually shot the 39-year-old Hilltown Township man in the heart.
Investigators found that Hill then shot himself in the mouth. Henry said the agents thought he was returning fire, so they fired six more shots at him.
The agents had been at the home looking for child pornography but Hill had refused to surrender and held the gun to his chin and mouth for about 10 minutes. ..more.. by NBC10.com
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