LA - Hope Thibodaux for obstruction in 2yo son's rape, Sun, 2010

[lonetraveler]

It sounds like the biomom had him for the weekend, though the grandparents had custody, but left him with "friends" along with her other child (who I hope has been examined, just in case).

:waitasec: Just how hard could it be for the sheriff's department to narrow down the list of suspects just by finding out who the "friends" were at that house during the time that the toddler was there? Surely both children could point out the person or persons who hurt the baby. This is an obvious blatant coverup of LE if I ever saw one!!!!!!!!!!!! Reminds me of another case I follow.:furious:

 

[lonetraveler]

Perhaps for legal reasons WDSU couldn't name the person that the grandparents believe is responsible but sure wish we knew so that we could sleuth out this freak.

So do I!!!!!! We could probably find the correlation between the rapist and someone in LE.

 

[mysticrose]

Nancy Grace needs this story sent to her over and over again until she airs it ! I know some here do not like her but national attention is what it is going to take for this investigation to get on a roll.
I am of the op someone is protecting somebody, I call BS. LE better start stepping up someone is covering their arse.

This is disgusting nothing has been done :furious:

 

[bessie]

:waitasec: Just how hard could it be for the sheriff's department to narrow down the list of suspects just by finding out who the "friends" were at that house during the time that the toddler was there? Surely both children could point out the person or persons who hurt the baby. This is an obvious blatant coverup of LE if I ever saw one!!!!!!!!!!!! Reminds me of another case I follow.:furious:

Not hard at all. A few months after the incident, the child's mother named a person of interest in a sworn statement to LE. When the grandparents contacted the Washington Parish detective to see if there'd been any progress, they were told the POI couldn't be found. The grandfather said he's found him several times and even called LE to let them know he was in front of the guy's house looking right at him. (I have to give it to the gf for having restraint.)

Washington Parish is tough on sexual predators and child abusers. If they are sitting on this one, there's a reason, which leads me to believe the allegations that the perp is connected to LE are true. And, yes, I'd love to know his name, too.

 

[fhc]

Nancy Grace needs this story sent to her over and over again until she airs it ! I know some here do not like her but national attention is what it is going to take for this investigation to get on a roll.
I am of the op someone is protecting somebody, I call BS. LE better start stepping up someone is covering their arse.

This is disgusting nothing has been done :furious:

Shame on LE that these grandparents had to publicize this horror and expose themselves and worst of all a 2 yo old victim. The courts protect minors' identities for a reason. How can LE not be repulsed and outraged by this and not want to protect this little hero?

ITA we should mount a campaign to not only get justice but to protect others. How do we preserve this families privacy? These are questions we need to answer as we proceed so he isn't victimized further in the future.

Miss Izzy, comeback and give us some more of your wisdom please.

 

[bessie]

Shame on LE that these grandparents had to publicize this horror and expose themselves and worst of all a 2 yo old victim. The courts protect minors' identities for a reason. How can LE not be repulsed and outraged by this and not want to protect this little hero?

ITA we should mount a campaign to not only get justice but to protect others. How do we preserve this families privacy? These are questions we need to answer as we proceed so he isn't victimized further in the future.

Miss Izzy, comeback and give us some more of your wisdom please.

The grandparents chose to allow their name to be used in the news report linked in the opening post of this thread. Beyond that, we can protect their privacy by NOT posting their name anywhere online. Any discussion can refer to the "Washington Parish toddler" with a link to the WDSU report where appropriate, such as in postings on other sites.

A campaign to get justice for the child and protect potential victims should start with letters, e-mails, and phone calls to the contacts in the links I've provided in post 17.

This link has contact information for the La. State Police field office.
http://www.lsp.org/cid_hammond.html

 

[fhc]

This DOJ website might be a starting point. It appears to be full of resources for future reference, too.

http://ovc.ncjrs.gov/ResourceByState.aspx?state=la

 

[mysterygirl]

:waitasec: Just how hard could it be for the sheriff's department to narrow down the list of suspects just by finding out who the "friends" were at that house during the time that the toddler was there? Surely both children could point out the person or persons who hurt the baby. This is an obvious blatant coverup of LE if I ever saw one!!!!!!!!!!!! Reminds me of another case I follow.:furious:

I'm sure the raging STD might give them a clue.

 

[Missizzy]

I'm here and have been researching. Surely, surely, this child has an advocate. If he doesn't, it's going to hit the fan. As I said upthread; he qualifies on several different eligibility factors. He's a crime victim (this is documented in hospital records), he's a client of DHS, and he has legal guardians (this would mean his case is "open"). Being a client of DHS, would also mean that the boy has his own attorney and caseworker.

I'm more than a little bothered by the fact that DHS placed him with his grandparents in guardianship rather than foster care. This is typically done to save money and is called kinship care. However, this baby desperately needs all the services he can get. I do NOT want to think that DHS is pinching pennies on the back of a seriously traumatized baby boy.

I hate to say this but it's looking strongly like there's a purposefully dropped ball. The baby was left with some friends of the mother's last May. Seven months have passed. How hard can it be to round up all those friends? Even if everyone was whacked out, they'd be helpful in putting together a "party list". My guess is that meth was being used as users will often grab a child and molest them with their heightened libido and lowered inhibitions. They honestly might not even have memory of it but someone saw or heard something. This child screamed when he was raped. There's no possibility that he didn't. If he hadn't screamed, that would mean that he was silenced and tragically, he wouldn't be with us today.

Then there's the issue of the grandparents actually locating the man (they use the words, "he", "his" and "him") on their own. They have a strong suspicion as to who the rapist is. I would think that just to placate the grandparents and to calm the public that LE would make a big splash about fully interviewing this man and arresting him or clearing him.

One tiny detail that continues to bother me is the fact that the grandparents did not appear to immediately call police. That surprises me. Maybe they were in shock. Maybe they honestly didn't know what to do. DHS trusts them enough to give them guardianship so they've been fully vetted. But it strikes me as odd that they didn't pick up the phone and call 911 the second they took that diaper off or at least head straight to the hospital:

"....Days after the incident, the Ts contacted the Sun Police Department and filed a criminal complaint against the children's mother...."

This might just be an issue of reporting but the Ts wouldn't have to file a complaint. A doctor or LEO would have done that in a heartbeat after seeing the injury. They are mandated reporters. The grandmother states that the child's genital area was "torn and bloody". Didn't he require and receive immediate medical care? Something might have been edited out but it bothers me.

So, we need to hear from locals as to just what the word is out in the community. Can anyone local help out with finding "comments"? Is the public outraged? Is this story getting airtime on local TV?

 

[Missizzy]

Did LE at least interview everyone on the mom's Myspace friend list?

 

[bessie]

I'm here and have been researching. Surely, surely, this child has an advocate. If he doesn't, it's going to hit the fan. As I said upthread; he qualifies on several different eligibility factors. He's a crime victim (this is documented in hospital records), he's a client of DHS, and he has legal guardians (this would mean his case is "open"). Being a client of DHS, would also mean that the boy has his own attorney and caseworker.

I'm more than a little bothered by the fact that DHS placed him with his grandparents in guardianship rather than foster care. This is typically done to save money and is called kinship care. However, this baby desperately needs all the services he can get. I do NOT want to think that DHS is pinching pennies on the back of a seriously traumatized baby boy.

I hate to say this but it's looking strongly like there's a purposefully dropped ball. The baby was left with some friends of the mother's last May. Seven months have passed. How hard can it be to round up all those friends? Even if everyone was whacked out, they'd be helpful in putting together a "party list". My guess is that meth was being used as users will often grab a child and molest them with their heightened libido and lowered inhibitions. They honestly might not even have memory of it but someone saw or heard something. This child screamed when he was raped. There's no possibility that he didn't. If he hadn't screamed, that would mean that he was silenced and tragically, he wouldn't be with us today.

Then there's the issue of the grandparents actually locating the man (they use the words, "he", "his" and "him") on their own. They have a strong suspicion as to who the rapist is. I would think that just to placate the grandparents and to calm the public that LE would make a big splash about fully interviewing this man and arresting him or clearing him.

One tiny detail that continues to bother me is the fact that the grandparents did not appear to immediately call police. That surprises me. Maybe they were in shock. Maybe they honestly didn't know what to do. DHS trusts them enough to give them guardianship so they've been fully vetted. But it strikes me as odd that they didn't pick up the phone and call 911 the second they took that diaper off or at least head straight to the hospital:

"....Days after the incident, the Ts contacted the Sun Police Department and filed a criminal complaint against the children's mother...."

This might just be an issue of reporting but the Ts wouldn't have to file a complaint. A doctor or LEO would have done that in a heartbeat after seeing the injury. They are mandated reporters. The grandmother states that the child's genital area was "torn and bloody". Didn't he require and receive immediate medical care? Something might have been edited out but it bothers me.

So, we need to hear from locals as to just what the word is out in the community. Can anyone local help out with finding "comments"? Is the public outraged? Is this story getting airtime on local TV?

LOL You wouldn't believe the searching I've done since last night. Besides the report you posted and a couple of comments from the grandmother on Gov. Jindal's FB page, there is no mention of this crime on any public site.

I have made some headway and hope to have something to share later.

 

[Missizzy]

Bessie--If you are local, you might want to call the news team which did the original article and see if there are any updates. i have to tell you that it bothers me that no one else is picking up this story. I've been doing the same research and that's surprised me. It really does not make sense.

I don't doubt the grandparents' story but I sure want to make sure we're on the right track.

 

[fhc]

Bumping for justice

 

[tlcya]

:furious:

This is so frustrating I am just boiling. So LE says because the child can't point out or name his abuser there is nothing they can do? WTH? Should the little guy go out and do the interviews, investigating and heck while we are at it, how bout we just leave it up to the little guy to go out and make the collar too!

This is just sickening. Since when to investigators not investigate? If you don't drag the perp in to them trussed up in a nice bow there is no case??

That poor little guy. Those poor grandparents. To know that their adult child made decisions with their grandchildren that ultimately resulted in this poor child's horrorific and brutal rape must be so heartbreaking for them.

 

[tlcya]

Bless this little guy's pawpaw.

MOO, The perp is a family member of LE.

Just fired off a thank you to the newstation that that did the story linked in OP. Told tehm I sincerely appreciated them shining a light on this case and hoped they would continue to follow it.

 

[Missizzy]

tlcox--I'm tending to agree with you--either a family member of LE or someone in power in that parish. It seems to be the only logical explanation, given the information we have, doesn't it?

 

[lonetraveler]

"Hope Thibodaux was charged with child desertion and improper supervision of a minor." This tells me that LE had to have at least investigated enough to file charges against the mother of this toddler, so LE already knows the suspected perp. The Grandfather has contacted LE with information on the location of this person, so what the hell is going on LE? Is this person the son of a friend of someone in LE? Is he an informer? Undercover? None of this should matter. People in that area need to raise total hell in front of all the media and get the news out about this little boys rape. This is unacceptable.:furious:

 

[tlcya]

Certainly isn't making that parish look good thats for sure.

something mighty hinky going on. Shameful that in this day and age the good ole boy network is still alive and well, or so it appears from the outside looking in.

 

[lonetraveler]

It is going to be interesting to see if Gov. Jindal gets involved. Let's hope so. This little innocent and the Grandparents deserve some help in getting this suspect behind bars.

I wonder if the sister of the little boy has been questioned or examined?

 

[Missizzy]

On one of the mother's older MS pages, she lists the ages of her babies as a 21 month old boy and a 6 month old girl. The grandparents state that she left the two of them with friends on that fateful May night.

Just where is that baby girl?