Man Accused of Sex Crimes at Daycare
(CBS 5 NEWS) - It’s a disgusting crime and one most parents can’t even think about.
Twenty-eight-year-old Ernest Figueroa, a worker at the Salvation Army Daycare for Toddlers is being held without bond this morning for felony sex crimes against a two-year-old.
The parents of the accused victim are speaking out to warn others.
“She [daycare worker] said when she walked in he jumped up and had to zip up his pants and our daughter was on the floor with her pants down,” says the toddler’s mother. Read More

‘Big Brother Of Year’ Sentenced To Prison For Molesting Boy
MEDINA, Ohio — A man was sentenced to 14 years in prison for raping and molesting a boy whom he mentored in the Big Brothers program.
Richard Mansfield, 60 — once named Big Brother of the Year for Big Brothers and Sisters of Summit and Medina counties — took the boy back to his home, showed him pornography and sexually molested him for years, prosecutors said.
The boy, now 14, was 7 when he joined Big Brothers Big Sisters International, a volunteer program that matches children with mentors. His mother said she hoped the program would help the boy, whose father had moved out of state, his mother said.
Addressing Mansfield on Monday in Medina County Common Pleas Court, the woman told him she had given her son to him in hopes Mansfield would teach him to be a man. Instead, she said, the boy became an angry youth. “I hope you rot in hell,” she said, sobbing. Read More

Background Checks on School Employees Barred from Release
The Michigan Education Association has filed an injunction barring the release of a list of current school employees who have a criminal record. The Department of Education conducted background checks on 200,000 current school employees.
The Detroit News reports those background checks found 4,600 offenses, 2,200 of them are felonies. The felonies include 355 drug convictions, 100 sex offenses and 23 homicides. The MEA says it has concerns about the accuracy of the list. A hearing on February 10th will determine if the list will ever be made public.

Research Gives Reason to Sweat Drug Tests
JONESBORO, Ark. (AP) — Drug detection as easy as taking a swipe of someone’s sweat could someday be in the hands of law enforcement, thanks to research conducted at the Arkansas Biosciences Institute at Arkansas State University.
“The hardest problems in science are often solved with just one question,” said Robyn Hannigan, associate professor of chemistry and physics at ASU.
During testing of tobacco smoke, fellow researcher Roger Buchanan asked Hannigan to develop a test that would allow him to measure the amount of nicotine absorbed by lab rats. He wanted a test that was a lot faster than traditional tests that required a blood sample to be analyzed.
Hannigan and her students developed a swipe test to allow a drop of saliva or sweat to be measured. “Then we thought, ‘Hey, if you can do this for a drug like nicotine, why not cannabis or methamphetamine?’ It turns out you can,” Hannigan said. Read More

Burger King sued on safety
A Connecticut man whose throat was allegedly slashed during a fast food run is taking the King to court. Frederick DeLuca and his mother Judy Fiore are suing Burger King Corp., charging that DeLuca’s throat was cut by employee Harold Lee Lewis outside a Burger King restaurant in Watertown, Conn., last month. Lewis faces charges, including first-degree assault, and is being held on $500,000 bond. Read More

Background checks get more important
Companies are relying more on pre-employment background checks to ease security concerns and protect against costly lawsuits. “It’s getting more important,” said privacy lawyer Robert Belair, editor of the Privacy and American Business newsletter. “The incidence of negligent hiring lawsuits is way up.” But the burgeoning field lacks consistent standards, causing errors that can disqualify reputable job applicants, some industry experts and consumer advocates say. When criminals slip through with clean records, the consequences are more severe. Read More

Employment background checks prompt concerns
By JOHN CHRISTOFFERSENTHE ASSOCIATED PRESS
STAMFORD, Conn. — Jessica Smith thought she was a shoo-in for a cashier’s job at an Office Depot in Minnesota last summer. The store manager was encouraging, saying he just needed to run a criminal background check.
But a week later, Smith received a rejection letter that cited a lengthy rap sheet, including drug convictions in Washington.
“I have no record,” Smith, 19, said as she flipped through court documents. “They all say felony and guilty. I’ve never even been to Washington.” Read More