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Nancy Grace
Ohio Mom Videos 2-Year-Old Smoking Pot
Aired September 17, 2010 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
NANCY GRACE, HOST: Breaking news tonight, live, Ohio. A beautiful 2- year-old in a pink tank top stands in the living room watching TV, but instead of a bottle, pacifier or baby doll, the toddler girl`s got a big, fat doobie in her hand. That`s right, a 2-year-old puffing away on a marijuana joint, the pot tot all caught on video. And where`s Mommy during all of this? Behind the camera, yucking it up, recording the whole thing on cell phone. But look, the baby girl`s handling the joint like a druggie. Obviously, it`s not the first time. Mommy not laughing tonight. She`s headed to the big house, the big dollhouse!
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Don`t blow on it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cops say she taught her daughter to smoke pot.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A cell phone captured video...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The little girl is only 2!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What`s quite disconcerting is she`s handling this as if she`s done something like this before.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Twenty-one-year-old Jessica Gamble is behind bars today.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She`s exactly where she needs to be.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I actually see a tear in that mug shot.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There`s no maternal instinct there.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The prosecutor is outraged. Joseph Dieters (ph) says it is unbelievable to watch on video a mother teaching her 2-year-old daughter how to smoke a joint.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Prosecutors horrified by this video of Gamble`s child and upset by how at ease the child seems to be with the joint.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: And tonight, two sisters head out for a family trip but leave the Webcam with their elderly mom. When they come back, their worst nightmares come true. Right there, caught on tape, the health care aide they trusted over a decade caught punching, slapping, slamming their mother onto the bed, completely manhandling a 91-year-old mother suffering from Alzheimer`s, heart failure, diabetes. Tonight, we`ve got the gut-wrenching video. And tonight, we want answers!
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Who would hit, slap and rough up a 91-year-old woman?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The grandmother.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is absolutely horrific.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Video is tough to watch.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hard to explain the video.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It just makes you gasp.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Some of it is so bad, it makes this slap look tame.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Abusive behavior.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It`s cruel. It`s heartless.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She was very sick.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bruises all over her body.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The hand of the woman paid to help the Alzheimer`s patient.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Police say you`re looking at her, 52-year-old Carmen Perrera (ph)...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The caretaker is in hot water.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can see the defenseless woman repeatedly manhandled, slapped, her hair getting pulled.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Look at how she`s handling her.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This video is tough to watch. I`ll just be real honest with you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police charged 52-year-old Carmen Perrera...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She`s been charged with aggravated assault with extreme indifference, endangering the welfare of an elderly person and neglect of an incompetent.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She`s been looking after their mom.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Eight hours a day, five days a week for the last 11 years.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us. Bombshell tonight. Instead of a bottle, pacifier or a baby doll, a beautiful 2-year-old`s a big, fat doobie in her hand. That`s right, a 2- year-old puffing away on a marijuana joint, the pot tot. And it`s all caught on video.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: An Ohio mom is accused of forcing her toddler to smoke pot.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What is that?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Prosecutors say you are hearing Jessica Gamble`s voice in this video, egging on her 2-year-old daughter, a child that is smoking pot.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cell phone video of the incident.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It`s a horrible situation.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We as adults are supposed to take care of our children.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jessica Gamble is in jail.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A mother charged with a horrible crime.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Police say a cell phone captured video of her teaching her 2-year-old now to smoke pot.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The prosecutor is outraged.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Joe Dieters says Jessica shot this video herself and sent it to others.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Teaching a 2-year-old to smoke pot is a definite no-no.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: We are taking your calls live. Right now, let`s go straight out to Brant Schulz, reporter, anchor, 700 WLW radio joining us out of Cincinnati. Brant, what happened?
BRANT SCHULZ, 700 WLW RADIO (via telephone): Well, as you can see from the video, Jessica Gamble allegedly watching her own 2-year-old daughter smoke a joint in front of her, in front of the TV, and actually even encouraging her to do it. It`s amazing to see and actually heartbreaking to watch, as the prosecutor, Joe Dieters, has pointed out.
GRACE: Take a look at this 2-year-old little girl -- obviously not the first time she`s smoked a joint. Jean Casarez...
SCHULZ: And that was the...
GRACE: Go ahead, Brant.
SCHULZ: I said that`s what the prosecutor pointing out, as well, is that this little 2-year-old girl is handling it like a pro. She looks like she (INAUDIBLE) has done this before, and it`s something that she may even do often. It`s hard to tell, and we`re going to find out more as this case progresses.
GRACE: Jean Casarez, what can you tell us?
JEAN CASAREZ, "IN SESSION": I can tell you that there`s an indictment right here, three felony charges, because of this. They are child endangering, tampering with evidence, and corrupting another with drugs. And Nancy, that is cell phone video that somebody sent to somebody, and that`s how it got in the hands of authorities.
GRACE: So number one, she gives her 2-year-old marijuana. Number two, laughs about it during the whole episode. And number three, is stupid enough to video it on her cell phone and I guess give it to somebody.
Joining us right now, Julie Wilson, the chief assistant prosecutor and PIO at Hamilton County prosecutor`s office, joining us out of Cincinnati. Ms. Wilson, thank you for being with us. Where is Mommy tonight?
JULIE WILSON, HAMILTON COUNTY PROSECUTOR`S OFFICE (via telephone): She is still, as far as I know, Nancy, in our jail, locked up on a $10,000 bond.
GRACE: You know what? I am so relieved, Julie. With us is Julie Wilson, joining us out of Cincinnati. I was afraid to even ask the question because I thought you were going to say she bonded out and she`s at home with her three other children. How many other children are in the home? And where is the 2-year-old tonight?
WILSON: Well, the good news is, Nancy, that I don`t believe she has any other children. The 2-year-old was removed immediately. And our Department of Jobs (ph) and Family Services have placed her in a safe place with a relative. So she`s safe and doing well at this point.
GRACE: Where is the father, Julie?
WILSON: You know, Nancy, I don`t have any information about the father. As you know from your many cases, this is just recently developing. She just was indicted yesterday. So you know, that has not been the subject of our focus at this point. But I`m sure more details will, you know, develop as the case progresses.
GRACE: Well, Julie Wilson, actually, you told me everything I need to know. If you can`t find out this quickly who the father is, then he obviously doesn`t have any interest in helping his daughter, helping his child, or you would know. You would have documentation in the home. You would find out from the mom. Everybody would know who the dad is, if they were expecting him to walk in the front door with a paycheck. So that`s not a problem here. So the baby is with family tonight.
I want to go right now to Brad Lamm, certified interventionist at Bradlamm.com, author of "How to Change Someone You Love." What effect could this have on a 2-year-old baby, continued use of marijuana?
BRAD LAMM, INTERVENTIONIST: Well, the plus side is the child is finally out of the home. I mean, that`s one good thing that we can look at tonight. But the negatives are certainly -- you know, we look at damage that happens to the child, both physically to the child`s lungs, as well as to, really, a taste of a drug at 2 years old. It`s not the worst thing I`ve seen, believe it or not, Nancy, but it definitely starts a trend that -- I think, as we look at kids getting addicted, it`s no surprise why they fall into it oftentimes.
GRACE: To Dr. Titus Duncan, general surgeon, Atlanta Medical Center. Dr. Duncan, what effect can this have on a baby, a baby with growing lungs that is obviously a pro at handling a doobie?
DR. TITUS DUNCAN, GENERAL SURGEON: At this particular point in time, there`s probably not so much damage to the lungs. What marijuana does is mostly affect the brain, your (INAUDIBLE) of memory, you capacity for thinking, your capacity for concentration. So over a period of time, if she starts early enough and she`s doing this frequently enough, it could actually affect her brain, her able to learn later on.
GRACE: To Brant Schulz, anchor out of 700 WLW Radio. Everybody, we`re taking your calls. Brant, in that book-in photo, it looks like Mommy`s actually shedding a tear, but I guess that`s for herself now that she`s arrested because she`s certainly not crying while her 2-year-old is using drugs. What about the tear?
SCHULZ: The tear? She does certainly look sad, and it is...
GRACE: Oh, boo-hoo!
SCHULZ: ... hard to say whether or not she is sorry for being caught or sorry that her 2-year-old has been taken away from her. But from what we gather, neighbor say that the kids were outside, they were left unsupervised and that sometimes they had to bring them in their own home because they weren`t being watched at her house.
GRACE: We are taking your calls. Now to Dr. Bethany Marshall, psychoanalyst, author of "Dealbreakers." Weigh in, Bethany.
BETHANY MARSHALL, PSYCHOANALYST: Well, I`m wondering what other forms of neglect there were. Was this little girl being held, bonded to? Was she being fed, nurtured, protected? If she was chronically on pot -- let`s say the mother was using cannabis as a baby-sitter for the little girl, and the little girl was chronically on it, what about all the bonding with mother that she missed out on? What about the critical stages of development?
And most importantly, if you have a genetic predisposition towards psychosis and you have chronic pot use, you can become psychotic. I don`t know how that would look in a 2-year-old little girl, but she needs to be watched for a long, long time.
And I`m also concerned that if she placed with the relatives of this mother, that as soon as this mother gets out of jail, that the relatives will try to place her back with the mother because, notoriously, that is what family members do when a child has been taken away from abusive parents, placed with relatives. The relatives will try to return that child back to the abusive parents behind the backs of the social workers.
GRACE: What do you mean by psychotic, the child could become psychotic?
MARSHALL: Psychotic is when you lose the boundaries between reality and non-reality. You see things that aren`t there. You hallucinate. You have delusions. You think you feel bugs crawling on your skin, even though there are no bugs. It can loosen the perceptual abilities, pave the way for psychiatric disorders.
GRACE: To Julie Wilson, the chief assistant prosecutor joining us out of Cincinnati, Ohio. Is the little girl with the mother`s family?
WILSON: All I know, Nancy, is that she`s placed with a relative in a safe place. And that`s the only information I have from our Department of Jobs and Family Services. But you know, they -- clearly, this is, you know, their focus, to make sure that the children in Hamilton County are safe. So they are definitely monitoring the situation (INAUDIBLE)
GRACE: You are seeing a 2-year-old baby girl, not with a pacifier, a bottle or a baby doll. Oh, no, she`s got a big, fat doobie, a marijuana joint in her hand, puffing away. Who`s the mastermind? Mommy!
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What is that? Who (ph)? What is this? Phat.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Prosecutors say Jessica shot this video herself and sent it to others. Cell phone video shows Jessica Gamble teaching her 2-year-old daughter how to smoke pot.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It doesn`t look like it`s brand-new, you know what I`m saying? It looks like it`s been smoked on for a while.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Joe Dieters says Gamble tried to delete the video and fled.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is heartwrenching to think an innocent 2-year- old could be endangered by her own parent.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A just released grand jury indictment has charged Gamble with three felonies.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Twenty-one-year-old Jessica Gamble could get 11 years if convicted.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: It`s not the first time we have seen children abused like this. Take a look at this video. And Mommy was stupid enough to record the whole thing on her cell phone, and apparently sent it to someone who then referred it to DFACS, Department of Family and Children`s Services.
Take a look at these. First of all, the Ohio pot baby. And then there`s Melvin Blevin`s video showing a teen forcing a 2-year-old baby to smoke pot from a pipe. The tot coughed, unable to speak. Look at this out of Keystone Heights, Florida. This was actually posted on FaceBook. It`s an 11-month-old baby with a bong. Out of Watauga, Texas, Demetris McCoy, Vanswan Polty, two teens videotaped 2 and 5-year-olds to smoke pot. Obviously, they had done it before. Denver, Colorado, a 2-month-old. She had a mixed drink, baby formula and vodka. The baby was four times the legal limit. Syracuse, 2-year-old boy forced to smoke pot by mom and mom`s friend. Mom shotgunned (ph) the pot by blowing into the tot`s mouth. Nice, Mommy. Thanks! It goes on and on. And tonight, look at this 2- year-old baby.
Unleash the lawyers. Joining us tonight, Eleanor Odom, felon prosecutor, death-penalty-qualified, Renee Rockwell and Peter Odom, defense attorneys, Atlanta. Go ahead, Eleanor. This is your specialty, crimes on children.
ELEANOR ODOM, PROSECUTOR: Well, the sad thing is, Nancy, we see stuff like this all the time and even worse things that adults do to children. And there should be nothing less than the maximum thrown at this woman. I believe the maximum in this case is about eleven-and-a-half years. I don`t know that that`s enough because you want to get the child to at least 18 so they can protect themselves in some small way from this monster.
GRACE: Well, you know, Eleanor, think about it. If she`s doing this to the child, what else is happening? You really think -- I mean, look how the child is dressed. She`s got an on oversized T-shirt, clearly not her own, and diapers. You know what? I do not have John David and Lucy -- now, occasionally, they will tear them off and run around the house like wild Indians. But they don`t go around dressed in nothing but diapers, bare feet, and one of my old T-shirts.
Do you think this child has been fed? Has she been bathed? Has she had lotion put on her? Is her diaper clean? Does she have diaper rash?
ELEANOR ODOM: Exactly, Nancy. You want to look at those issues of child neglect. And the very fact that she`s sitting there smoking marijuana shows neglect right there. She`s depriving that child of the proper food, the proper morals, the proper subsistence (ph) to, you know, sustain her own life. It`s just sickening!
GRACE: OK, Renee, let`s hear it.
RENEE ROCKWELL, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Nancy, do not get your heart broken when I tell you that this girl could potentially not get a drop of jail time. There`s women across the country that are pimping their children, and in comparison, Nancy...
GRACE: No! Uh-uh! No, no, no!
ROCKWELL: ... this is mild.
GRACE: Put her up. Put her up. Put her up, Liz! You know what, Renee? In my world, I don`t have to choose between pimping children and forcing pot on them, all right? I don`t know how you grew up, all right...
ROCKWELL: Without marijuana, I might add.
GRACE: No! No, Renee! Don`t come crying to me and preaching about other children get treated worse. That`s not what I`m talking about. Peter Odom, I`m talking about this girl and this mother. Don`t try to deflect what this mother has done!
PETER ODOM, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Nancy, it`s just like a prosecutor to think that this problem that you see on this video can be solved by just throwing someone in jail, OK?
GRACE: I don`t think that solves it...
PETER ODOM: Not every legal problem...
GRACE: ... but it at least protects the girl!
PETER ODOM: Not every legal problem is a nail that can be solved by hammering it down, OK? That`s not the solution. This is...
GRACE: You know what, Peter?
PETER ODOM: ... a teen mother that needs counseling.
GRACE: Put him up!
PETER ODOM: She needs treatment. She needs...
GRACE: Put him up!
PETER ODOM: ... parenting classes.
GRACE: You know what, Peter?
PETER ODOM: And putting her in jail is going to...
GRACE: I have tried...
PETER ODOM: ... just perpetuate the problem.
GRACE: ... so many felony cases with this little finger than you have tried in your hand! So don`t tell me...
PETER ODOM: I`d love to do a comparison.
GRACE: ... about what jails do and don`t do! I wish there were other programs there...
PETER ODOM: They don`t solve problems.
GRACE: ... but my main concern is protecting this girl and keeping her away from her mother!
PETER ODOM: And making sure it doesn`t happen again when they`re reunited, which is going to happen.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A mother accused of teaching her 2-year-old child how to smoke marijuana. It`s on video, and it`s outrageous.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The 2-year-old can`t protect herself.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jessica Gamble is in jail in part because of this right here, a cell phone. Police say a cell phone captured video of her teaching her 2-year-old how to smoke pot.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The person behind the camera is the girl`s own mother.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Not only is Mommy egging the little girl on to smoke pot, a 2- year-old clearly not being cared for, but she records it on her cell phone. How stupid is that? Then sends it.
Jean Casarez, there`s a very disturbing trend in our country right now. Explain.
CASAREZ: There really is, Nancy, and it is baby-sitters. And it`s when parents don`t have the money for a baby-sitter, they drug their child to become that baby-sitter. It`s an alarming trend. It`s happening all over the country.
GRACE: Out to the lines. Jackie in Kansas. Hi, Jackie.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Nancy. I want to thank you for being there. And I want to share with you that I became a grandmother the first time about the time the twins were born. And I just think...
GRACE: Well, congratulations. It`s the most wonderful thing that ever happened to me.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Being a grandparent, as well, too, so -- and I - - I have a question and a comment for you. My question is, will this be a case where a young parent will receive a slap on the hands, with probation and parenting classes, just to return to the child for more abuse?
GRACE: Actually, I`m afraid so. But there`s one person that`s got the answer to that tonight. Julie Wilson, chief assistant prosecutor joining us out of Cincinnati, what do you think is going to happen to this mom? I know she`s still behind bars tonight.
WILSON: Well, as you know, Nancy, it`s really hard to predict. I mean, obviously, the state of Ohio, we take this very seriously. And you know, my boss, Joe Dieters, is outraged about this situation. So we`re going to prosecute it very vigorously and we`re not -- you know, we want to go full steam ahead on this because it`s a very serious matter, as you and your guests have pointed out.
GRACE: Out to Pat Brown, criminal profiler, author of "The Profiler." Pat, what do you think about this? You know, a lot of people would think this is actually funny.
PAT BROWN, CRIMINAL PROFILER: Yes, well, I think the biggest problem here is that we`re calling her a parent. She`s a group member with a little group member around. She`s going to just treat her like a little person. She can watch "R" movies with her. She can do drugs with her. She can hang out with her. She`s not really a mother to that child.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`m just grateful that somebody in the community was savvy and smart enough and cared enough about this little girl that they forwarded it to another phone and brought it to authorities.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What is that? Who? What is this? Phat.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: We all have grandparents.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: And this video is tough to watch.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Ninety-one-year-old woman.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Heartbreaking, it is, to see your own mother.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: What if you were to find out that particular caretaker --
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Fifty-two-year-old Carmen Pereira--
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Wasn`t so kind, in fact, was abusive.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Abused by a person whom you trusted for so many years.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The two daughters trusted Pereira. She`s been looking after their mom for 11 years.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bruises all over her body.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The victim cannot defend herself.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Here Pereira violently shoved the suction tube into the victim`s mouth.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She slaps her around. She pulls her. She yanks her about.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: She continues to be rough. Here she slams the Alzheimer`s patient into a chair. And remember she`s been taking care of this woman for 11 years.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And it just makes you gasp.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Heart-breaking story of elder abuse. A woman is accused of abusing a 91-year-old woman with Alzheimer`s. And it`s all caught on camera.
The victim`s family says they want to make sure that this didn`t happen to someone else`s parent. The 91-year-old woman set up a Web cam so she should keep in touch with her family.
But that camera ended up revealing more than a month of abusive behavior at the hands of a woman paid to help the Alzheimer`s patient eat and walk.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
NANCY GRACE, HOST: This is the healthcare worker that they had employed for 10 years to take care of their mother suffering from Alzheimer`s, congestive heart failure, diabetes.
They kept noticing unusual bruises and finally left a Web cam behind while the daughter went out of town. This and much, much more confirmed their worst nightmares.
To Patrick Villanova, staff writer, "Jersey Journal." What do you know, Patrick? What can you tell us about the case?
PATRICK VILLANOVA, STAFF WRITER, JERSEY JOURNAL: Well, on Tuesday Jersey City Police released this video. It`s a five-minute video that they took from footage that was taken by this camera between August 22nd and August 29th.
The woman`s daughter -- the woman is a 91-year-old woman who suffers from Alzheimer`s, diabetes, a heart disorder. So the woman`s daughter, they went away -- I`m sorry, the woman -- one woman`s daughter, she went away on Sunday, August 28th --
GRACE: Right.
VILLANOVA: Right.
GRACE: She was gone a few days, came home, saw the video. Has the woman been prosecuted?
What about it, Jean Casarez?
JEAN CASAREZ, LEGAL CORRESPONDENT, "IN SESSION": Unbelievable. It is so hard to watch. This woman, Nancy, worked for these people 11 years. But at the end of August they put this video camera on the computer so grandma could talk with all of the relatives. And they left it on when they went out one day. And this is what they got.
GRACE: Who is this person, Jean Casarez? Who is Catalina Ubaldo? I know -- I know that she`s 91. But what her relationship to Carmen Pereira, the 52-year-old health aide.
CASAREZ: She`s a professional caregiver from the Loving Care Agency, Nancy.
GRACE: What are her charges tonight, Jean?
CASAREZ: Nancy, they are felonies. They are aggravated assault with extreme indifference, endangering the welfare of an incompetent person and neglect of the elderly.
GRACE: Patrick Villanova, has Carmen Pereira released -- has she been released from jail or is she behind bars?
VILLANOVA: Yes, she pled not guilty and she posted bail. So she`s out on bail right now.
GRACE: Did she have a license, Jean Casarez? Was she licensed like an RN or a health care worker? I mean what is her background?
CASAREZ: You know, Nancy, what we`re learning, and believe me this information is just coming in right now. But we`re learning she was with an accredited agency. Does that mean she was accredited? I think that`s a question of fact.
GRACE: What`s the name of the agency again?
CASAREZ: Loving Care.
GRACE: Loving Care.
Out to the lines, Phyllis in Pennsylvania. Hi, Phyllis.
PHYLLIS, CALLER FROM PENNSYLVANIA: Hi, Nancy. I have a question. Now did this company, do they do background checks on their employees, or do they just hire anybody who could be just a nurse?
GRACE: What do you think, Jean?
CASAREZ: I think this is a very unregulated industry. I think there are many fine caregivers. But I know of many stories, as I`m sure you do, of caregivers that are with anything but fine.
GRACE: Now Loving Care Agency is the one that farmed this woman out as a health care aide. This woman, the 52-year-old health care aide worker Carmen Pereira, has no criminal record that we know of. But I predict she`ll have one soon enough.
Unleash the lawyers. Eleanor Odom, Renee Rockwell, Peter Odom.
OK, Renee, what`s your defense?
RENEE ROCKWELL, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Nancy, how are you going to defend against that? The only thing that I can see depending on the state is whether or not there are any privacy issues and whether or not there`s a search issue.
Of course, any attorney is going to try to keep this video out. Good luck.
GRACE: A privacy issue. Put Renee up. This is in a private room. Also this was not a police search. You know go pull up the code -- the criminal code.
ROCKWELL: I`m just --
GRACE: And the civil code.
ROCKWELL: You asked me.
GRACE: There`s no such thing as -- no crime has been -- no law has been violated by putting this Web cam in her mother`s room.
ROCKWELL: You asked me, Nancy. The only thing --
GRACE: Yes, I expect a legitimate argument.
(CROSSTALK)
ROCKWELL: Here in this case, and let me agree with you on this one time. This gal is going to jail because who is immune from having a parent or even one`s self in the care of some health care worker?
Nobody is immune to that. And where as I say all the time that people are going to get probation, in this case, I`ve got to agree with you. This gal is going down and going down hard.
GRACE: To CW Jensen, retired Portland Police captain.
Captain, what do you think she should be charged with?
CW JENSEN, RETIRED PORTLAND POLICE CAPTAIN: Aggravated assault. And you know, it appears it`s not just once.
One of the things that scares me is, as a society, we`re taking our most vulnerable people -- our children, our elderly -- and we`re putting them in the care of others. And in law enforcement, what we keep seeing over and over again is that people are getting hurt.
So if you have a child in care, if you have a parent in care, you have a responsibility to stop by often, to stop by unannounced. To make sure everything looks fine. Make sure that people know you`ll come by and see. And if you see bruises and you see problems, you report it.
GRACE: The video is so upsetting. It`s very difficult to watch. But this is what an adult daughter found when she came back to the home.
Back to you, Captain Jensen. How small can a video camera be? How does this work? How do they capture these images?
JENSEN: They can be all sorts of different sizes. But it sounds like this one was mounted on top of a computer, which we all do so we can talk to each other in various ways. And so you`ve got a computer sitting out with a camera on it. Nothing hidden. It just happened to be running.
This woman, obviously, was so cavalier in her actions, she didn`t even think about it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: She`s been looking after their mom for 11 years. The daughter saw some bruises, checked the tape and called police.
Here she slams the Alzheimer`s patient into a chair. It`s cruel, it`s heartless and some of it is so bad it make this is slap look tame.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: You can see the defenseless woman repeatedly manhandled, slapped, her hair getting pulled. The victim`s family understandably shaken here.
Police charge 52-year-old Carmen Pereira. She cared for the victim eight hours a day, five days a week, for the last 11 years.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Who would hit, slap, and rough up a 91-year- old woman?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The grandmother.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is absolutely horrific.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The video is tough to watch.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hard to explain the video.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just makes you gasp.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Some of it is so bad it makes this slap look tame.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Abusive behavior.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: It`s cruel. It`s heartless.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She was sick.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bruises all over her body.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The hand of the woman paid to help the Alzheimer`s patient.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Police say you`re looking at her. Fifty-two- year-old Carmen Pereira.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Caretaker is in hot water.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: You can see the defenseless woman repeatedly manhandled, slapped, her hair getting pulled.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Look at how she`s handling her.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The video is tough to watch. I`ll just be real honest with you.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Police charged 52-year-old Carmen Pereira.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: She`s been charged with aggravated assault, extreme indifference, endangering the welfare of an elderly person, and neglect of an incompetent.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: She`s been looking after their mom for --
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Eight hours a day, five days a week, for the last 11 years.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Heart-breaking story of elder abuse. A woman is accused of abusing a 91-year-old woman with Alzheimer`s and it`s all caught on camera. The victim`s family says they want to make sure that this doesn`t happen to someone else`s parent.
The 91-year-old woman set up a webcam so she should keep in touch with her family, but that camera ended up revealing more than a month of abusive behavior at the hand of the woman paid to help the Alzheimer`s patient eat and walk.
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GRACE: This day, this health care worker was in place for 11 years, and police tell us tonight that they saw 32 days of video that they were able to recover, and that there were innumerable instances of abuse on this 91-year-old mother.
To Pat Brown, criminal profiler and author of "The Profiler", what kind of person takes advantage of a 91-year-old little lady?
PAT BROWN, CRIMINAL PROFILER, AUTHOR OF "THE PROFILER": Well, I think in this case you`ve got the problem of ever leaving somebody alone eight hours a day with a person who is difficult to care for.
Alzheimer`s people, people who are mentally challenged, severe physical difficulty.
It`s never a healthy thing for anybody to be stuck in the situation. But put somebody in there who has maybe some personality disorder and a lack of empathy and leave her alone with somebody she doesn`t care about in any way shape or form, it`s not her loved, and you`re looking for trouble. So it`s a real warning to all of us to be very, very careful who we leave our loved ones with.
GRACE: Out to the lines, Carolyn in Illinois. Hi, Carolyn.
CAROLYN, CALLER FROM ILLINOIS: Hi, Nancy. I just love your show. And thank you so much for taking me as a caller. I was just wondering, did they check or do an examination to see if there was any sexual abuse with her?
GRACE: Good question. What do we know, Jean Casarez?
CASAREZ: I have not heard that issue. But let`s reiterate for everybody, why didn`t this lady tell her family about this for the last 11 years? She has Alzheimer`s, Nancy. She couldn`t.
GRACE: It`s brutal just looking at it.
You know, Peter Odom, I didn`t go to you earlier when I was asking for defenses. What is the best defense you can come up with?
PETER ODOM, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Nancy, as I`ve said before on this show, a video like this is the legal equivalent for a defense attorney of being check-mated. So what you do with a client like this is to get her into anger management counseling, start working on seeing if there`s drug and alcohol problems, get her a psychological evaluation.
And start working on lessening her jail time. She`s going to jail, probably prison, probably for a long time. And the person that defends her is just going to have to try and make that as little as possible.
But she`s going to be convicted on this video. It is shocking.
GRACE: You know, Dr. Bethany, I am making myself look at it. I am thinking about my grandmother, Lucy, whom my little girl Lucy is named after, and what I would feel if she were doing this to my grandmother.
BETHANY MARSHALL, PSYCHOANALYST, AUTHOR OF "DEALBREAKERS": And not only that, Nancy, the memory-based disorders like Alzheimer`s, cognitive dementia, there`s also a paranoid component.
I know this woman`s quite severe at this point. But imagine if you`re paranoid and you feel the bogeyman is in your room, but then in reality, there is a monster in your room. That is what is so tragic about this.
And there are some people in our society who hate babies and the elderly. And they hate them because they resent and they`re envious that this population is dependent and vulnerable and need of care.
They`re babies. They want to care for themselves. They do not want to give it to another. Never let someone alone with a biological relative who is this vulnerable. A child or a senior, unless there`s a video in the room or you have two caretakers so one can monitor the other.
GRACE: You know, Bethany, I just don`t understand the emotional or mental makeup of someone that would mistreat ha 91-year-old grandma like this. This little old lady, so defenseless.
MARSHALL: But, Nancy, I have had patients make their way into my office who are obsessed with the elder and children. Often babies. And they think they`re greedy and they get all the attention and they suck off other people, and they don`t --
GRACE: I`ve never heard of anybody thinking that.
(CROSSTALK)
MARSHALL: I have --
GRACE: You`re telling me you`ve actually encountered people that feel that way?
MARSHALL: Yes. And it`s such an ugly thing to hear.
GRACE: What do you do? Just slap them? What do you do?
MARSHALL: I -- well, I tell them they shouldn`t be around elderly and the children. I confront them on their hostility. I confront them on the destructiveness of their behavior and that they`re obsessed and preoccupied with this dependent, vulnerable population because they somehow didn`t get something in their own childhoods.
I know that sounds trite, but it really sometimes comes down to that.
GRACE: To Dr. Titus Duncan, general surgeon, Atlanta Medical Center. Why is it that the elderly especially are at risk for broken bones and injuries that the rest of us may not suffer?
DR. TITUS DUNCAN, M.D., GENERAL SURGERY, ATLANTA MEDICAL CENTER: You know, Nancy, the problem that I have with this is that is this lady is actually inflicting pain. This is painful to this lady.
She can`t express it like you and I can. But she`s frail. She`s fragile, and she has thinner skin, thinner bones, and she`s actually in pain. She just cannot tell them.
So, yes, they`re more fragile. They do have a lot more pain. They do have a lot more bruising. And so their skin is easier to damage. So she`s actually truly, truly hurting this lady. Truly hurting her.
And just because the lady is not responding back, she feels like she needs to hurt her some more.
GRACE: You know, to Captain Jensen, you know between you and me and the attorneys, the prosecutor, Eleanor, and the defense attorneys on the staff -- on the show tonight, we have seen so much inflicted on people, and to see -- but to see this little old lady manhandled like that, they need to throw the book at this woman.
JENSEN: Well, I guess some people don`t like the elderly and children, but I`ll tell you who does like the elderly and children. Cops and prosecutors. And I`m convinced that they`ll do everything they can to throw this woman in jail for a long time. And that makes me feel better about it.
GRACE: I can only pray, Captain.
As we go to break on a very happy note. Happy birthday to California friend Simon. Loves sports cars, the beach, celebrating tonight in Hollywood.
Happy birthday, Simon.
And now, everyone, CNN Heroes.
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ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: The CNN Hero of the Year is Efren Penaflorida.
From the slums in the Philippines to the stage of the Kodak Theater in Hollywood, Efren Penaflorida has come a long way.
EFREN PENAFLORIDA, CNN HERO: We are the change that this world needs to be. Mabuhay.
COOPER: For 12 years Efren and his team of volunteers have pushed their mobile classrooms through the streets of their neighborhoods teaching kids who never make it to school. But after being named 2009 CNN Hero of the Year, Efren became a national hero.
PENAFLORIDA: This is really overwhelming.
COOPER: Upon his return, Philippine President Gloria Arroyo presented him with one of the country`s highest honors.
One year later the pushcart classroom model has been replicated more than 50 times across the Philippines. It inspired the construction of an education center funded in part by the CNN Heroes grant.
PENAFLORIDA: Before the pushcart, they see it as a symbol of poverty but now they see a pushcart as the symbol of hope and education.
COOPER: Recently Efren has had his story told in six countries and languages and can be seen weekly in his own search for heroes on Philippine television. The young man from the slums has turned the attention of a nation toward a common dream.
PENAFLORIDA: My fellow Filipinos, they`re unleashing the hero inside them.
Thank you.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: What a week in America`s courtrooms. Take a look at the stories and more important the people who touched our lives.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Sheriffs say 39-year-old Dawn Viens was last seen leaving her husband`s cafe. She was never seen again. Three weeks after she vanishes, Dawn`s friends called to report her missing, not her husband.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: A desperate search is under way for a Kentucky teen mom. Nineteen-year-old Jodi Powers was reported missing by her mother on September 1st and no one has seen or heard from her since.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All rise please. Court is now in session.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The South Carolina mother accused of killing her two young sons in court today.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The bodies of two young children --
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Two young boys --
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: -- have been found in a submerged car in a South Carolina river.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The kids were 1 and 2.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Still strapped in their child restraint seats when they were found.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Autopsy results confirmed their 3-month-old`s son death was a homicide. The boy`s mother April Bainter and father Joe Ballard were both charged with aggravated battery and endangering the life of a child.
3:00 a.m. July 23rd, 2007. Ex-con Steven Hayes and Joshua Komisarjevsky allegedly bursting into the home of Dr. and Mrs. William Petit.
UNIDENTIFIED CALLER: I didn`t -- she wasn`t going to call the police.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Torturing the family for hours, brutally assaulting the couple`s teenage daughters.
UNIDENTIFIED CALLER: And they told us they wouldn`t hurt anybody.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Sole survivor William Petit painfully recalling the barbaric events in court just hours ago.
GRACE: We want justice.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Let`s stop and remember Army Private 1st class Aaron Hudson, 20, Dallas, Texas, killed Iraq. Awarded the Bronze Star, Purple Heart, National Defense Service medal, Army Service ribbon. Loved baseball, soccer, playing golf with his grandfather and golf buddies, baking chocolate chip cookies.
A church built in his honor in Honduras. Leaves behind grieving parents Mark and Annette. Grandparents David and Frederica. Sister Leslie, nephew Silas.
Aaron Hudson, American hero.
Thanks to our guests but especially to you for being with us and a special good night from the New York control room.
Good night, Bret, Liz, Squeaky, Norm.
And thank you, to Amber Riley, also known as Mercedes, and the cast of "Glee." Amber, a friend of the show, tweets after finding a bookmark of me in her trailer from one of her cast-mates, Chris Colfer.
Thank you.
And tonight KlaasKids Foundation teams up with the 2010 Fireball Run and Race to recover America`s missing children. Begins September 23, Nevada, ends October 2, Illinois.
Go to KlaasKids.org and FireballRun.com.
Everyone, I`ll see you tomorrow night 8:00 sharp Eastern, and until then, good night, friend.
END
