Document the DCF Atrocities

June 6, 'no one could have predicted' a Delray Beach child the Florida Department of Children and Families was protecting would die. June 14, DCF 'could not have foreseen' a Riviera Beach child it was protecting would die. Luckily, the agency had the foresight to order rubber stamps for this sort of thing.

Document the DCF Atrocities

No one could have predicted those two separate instances of death by neglect. So, Florida's Department of Children and Families "has agreed to formalize" her custody of however many of her other children may still be alive.

Document the DCF Atrocities

July 7, 2006: Dean McGregor, age 7, is found "lying in bed, unresponsive, his dead eyes fixed in space." He died from "blunt force head injuries."

Who could have guessed? Not the Florida Department of Children and Families:

• Feb. 16, 2005: "DCF's abuse hotline received a report that Desmond McGregor's girlfriend had used a belt to discipline Dean's twin brother... ." A caseworker from [DCF contractor] ChildNet dismissed the allegation as a "form of revenge" by a family member to try to gain custody of the three boys... . No action was taken, the suit says."
• April 2005: "[A DCF] caseworker on a supervised visit was told by the three brothers that one boy had been injured on his back. 'The monitor observed 'a long abrasion' on [the boy's] back... ." The boy 'reported to the monitor that `Desmond hit me' with a belt." The boy also accused the teenage son of his dad's girlfriend of biting him in the head... ."
  
• April 13, 2005: Dean McGregor reported to DCF Child Protection Investigators "that his father hits him with a belt... . He also told the team that his dad's girlfriend and her son also hit him.
  
• November 2005: The non-custodial mother "said in an abuse report that Desmond McGregor had attacked her, and she 'fears for her life and the kids' safety."
• March, 2006: After DCF received another abuse report, a state Child Protection Team found "medically confirmed abuse, failure to provide a safe environment and failure to protect... ."
  
• June 2007: Dean McGregor is "pulled out of the bottom of a pool after a brief submersion episode," hospital records show.
  

Roy Atchison Dead; Suicide Suspected

UPDATED BELOW
Pensacola Assistant U.S. Attorney Roy Atchison, whose arrest on interstate child sex abuse charges shell-shocked Gulf Breeze, was found "unresponsive" by federal prison officials in Michigan early this morning. Atchison was transported by ambulance to a nearby hospital "and was pronounced dead at 10:17 a.m., federal Bureau of Prisons spokesman Mike Truman said."

“His death appears to be the result of suicide,” Truman said. “A thorough investigation is under way.”

Read the rest of the PNJ story here.

UPDATE # 1
10-05 pm

The Detroit Free Press is reporting in a late on-line edition that Atchison "hanged himself this morning at the federal prison in Milan, where he was taken after trying to commit suicide last month at Sanilac County Jail, authorities said."

Officials said Atchison, 53, of Gulf Breeze, Fla., had been housed in solitary confinement and was under close supervision, adding that he had shown no signs of despondency.
* * *
“We are deeply saddened to learn of the death of John Roy Atchison," his lawyer, James Thomas of Detroit, said today in a statement.

“Our heartfelt regrets go out to his wife and children, his parents and his brothers,” Thomas said. “This is a man who has done a lot of good in his life. Unfortunately, he is going to be judged by his most recent charges and what we have read in the media, and not by the goodness, hard work or by the love of his family."

UPDATE # 2
10-06 am
Abby Goodnough of the New York Times writes that Atchison's Detroit lawyer, James C. Thomas, told her he had unconfirmed information "that Mr. Atchison had hanged himself in the shower."

I think they don’t put somebody in there to watch you when you’re in the shower,” he said. “But you have cameras and people watching you as you’re going in.”

A spokeswoman for the Bureau of Prisons, Felicia Ponce, would not provide details of the matter but said Mr. Atchison had been living in a one-person cell in the special housing unit.

Goodnough also quotes Thomas as refusing to comment on Mr. Atchison’s last known state of mind or on whether Atchison claimed to be "wrongly accused."

"We’re not going to talk about that, ever, Mr. Thomas said."

Atchison in the Gulf Breeze News

It's looking as if the story of the Assistant U.S. Attorney who's also a Gulf Breeze resident isn't going to go away in these parts for some time to come. Today, the weekly Gulf Breeze News weighs in on the coverage with not much new other than the reactions of friends and neighbors.

All of them apparently insisted on anonymity:

Those who know Roy Atchison say the reports out of Michigan must be describing a different person than the community leader and family man they know.

"He's squeaky clean," said one local official, on condition of anonymity. Another says there was no indication of any untoward behavior on his part as a coach and president of the Gulf Breeze Sports Association (GBSA).

Some associates remain hopeful that Atchison will be exonerated from a tragic mistake.

"He's a friend," one man said. "I would have trusted him with my grandchildren."

Others say they refused to believe the rumors until they had the chance to confirm that Roy Atchison was the same one accused of such a heinous plan.

Another said there had never been any reason to suspect that Atchison, a high ranking government official and community volunteer, was a pedophile.

The Gulf Breeze News also notes that "Atchison tried several high profile local cases. He would have known the risk of his alleged actions, one official said."

More than likely, the reference to "high profile cases" includes the Sandshaker Bar cocaine ring busts on Pensacola Beach a few years back. The St. Pete Times has archived a three-year old article describing the case. In it, a Pensacola Assistant U.S. Attorney by the name of "Acheson" is quoted -- almost certainly the same Roy Atchison now sitting in a Michigan jail cell.

Atchison is known to have worked primarily on civil and criminal forfeiture cases, which dominated the Sandshaker matter. In that case, the government seized ownership of the bar, a condo unit, a house, various cars, and other properties alleged to be fruits or instruments of the crimes. All of it was later auctioned off.

Pensacola U.S. Attorney Becomes An "Unperson"

It's always a challenge to an organization when its leader suddenly is accused of a heinous criminal act. Despite what we are pleased to call "the American way" of presuming the accused innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, it doesn't take long for most inchoate business entities -- corporations, foundations, non-profits, partnerships, and the like -- to distance themselves from the defendant.

Sometimes it happens almost overnight. So, it seems, with the Gulf Breeze Sports Association.

As of late last night, the chairman of the GBSA's board of directors was "Roy Atchison," as the first screen shot, below, shows (click the image for a closeup):

That's the same Roy Atchison, also known as "John David R. Atchison, 53, of Gulf Breeze, Fla." who was arrested in Detroit yesterday on a federal criminal complaint of using interstate commerce while "attempting... to persuade, induce, or entice" a 5 y.o. girl "to engage in criminal sexual activity... ."

Today, he and all of his fellow board members seem to have been disappeared from the GBSA's web site. Take a look at the same web site page from this morning (screen shot # 2 below, click the image for a closeup):

Roy Atchison? Don't know him. Never heard of him.

UPDATE
12:30 pm

Reliable sources tell us three F.B.I. agents were seen this morning exiting the Atchison home in Gulf Breeze. Among those things impounded: at least one vehicle and, we are told, all the home computer equipment.