Hollywood, Florida police assault the owner of a Call Center in his place of business after he refused to give them his name.

by Brian Shilhavy
Editor, Health Impact News

A man in Hollywood, Florida who owns a Call Center recently posted a video of his encounter with CPS (Child Protective Services) and local law enforcement. The businessman has a Facebook page called South Florida CopWatch, which is where he posted his video after his arrest and encounter with CPS and law enforcement officers.

Facebook page.

Violation of Constitutional Rights?

In the video and write-up on the South Florida CopWatch page, the business owner is claiming that CPS and the police are violating his Constitutional rights. He is claiming that CPS received a call from a disgruntled former employee of the Call Center who accused him of child abuse. CPS agents routinely investigate “tips” of abuse called into a “hotline,” even if those calls are anonymous.

In a phone call made to the Hollywood police department, a representative (Miranda Grossman, Public Information Manager) of the police department confirmed to Health Impact News that it was a tip from a former employee. She added that the complaint against the business owner was that he was:

doing drugs, narcotics, in front of his children.

When you watch the entire encounter caught on video (see below), it seems obvious that there are no children present at the owner’s place of business. A social worker named Jerometta Ingraham, who works out of the Broward County Sheriff’s office and appears to have some kind of “badge” on her shirt, appears at the door of the Call Center with an officer, apparently Officer Martinez.

This appears to be a return visit, as the business owner asks the officer with the social worker:

Would you like to tell me what you told me before? …. You said if I did not talk to her, you would steal my children.

The officer can be heard in the video stating that they “have to take them (his children) from you.”

They then ask the business owner to present his ID, and he refuses. During the course of the encounter, the business owner states that it is his right to remain silent, and that they could speak to his attorney if they wanted.

But the social worker and police officer persist, and insist that they are conducting an investigation, and that he has to provide his ID.

The business owner asks what it is they are investigating, and the officer states “child abuse and neglect.”

When the business owner asks what the basis or probable cause is for this allegation, no answer is given. The officer eventually forces his way into the office, and the business owner lets him know he is not welcome, and that he is trespassing.

He makes it clear that without a warrant, he is not going to answer any questions.

The officer accuses him of obstructing their investigation, and when the business owner continues to refuse to give him his name, the officer assaults him, and within a short period of time more police officers arrive and throw the business owner to the floor and handcuff him. The person who picked up the camera to resume filming states that there were a total of 5 police officers at that point.

The entire encounter therefore, and the reason the police assaulted this business owner inside his place of business, appears to be simply because he refused to give them his name. We contacted the business owner, and at the time of publication he had been released from the police, and he stated that his children have not yet been detained. He has allegedly retained the services of an attorney, and could not provide us any more details based on the advice of his attorney.

Watch the entire encounter:

Did the Police Operate Within the Law?

Health Impact News called the Hollywood Police department and asked them if they believed the officer was operating within the law. Miranda Grossman replied: “Yes.”

When asked:

Do your officers routinely enter private property without a warrant?

She replied:

They don’t need a warrant to go in and ask him a question.  It was a place of business.

Listen to this law professor explain that one should never talk to the police in an investigation without an attorney present, as it is our right under the 5th Amendment:

Broward County Sheriff Department Receives Millions of Dollars from CPS – Conflict of Interest?

The social worker in the video was allegedly Jerometta Ingraham from the Child Protective Investigations section of Broward County Sheriffs Office. The address is 359 N. State Rd 7, Plantation, FL 33317 and the phone number is 954 327 2711. Ms. Ingraham’s email address is 

je****************@sh*****.org











.

Health Impact News has learned that the Broward County Sheriff department receives a large sum of money to work together with Florida Child Protective Services (Department of Children and Families – DCF).

On their website they state:

The Broward Sheriff’s Office has full responsibility for all county child protective investigations and operates under a multi-year Grant agreement with the Florida Department of Children and Families since 1999. (Source.)

How much money does DCF pay to the sheriff department to hold an office on their facility and use them to help remove children from homes?

The “Children’s Services Administration” of the Broward County Government states:

The Section is responsible for strategic planning and administration of approximately $15 million in contracts awarded to organizations (non-profit, public and for-profit) that provide a variety of services to children and their families. (Source.)

Broward County is not the only county in Florida where sheriff’s departments receive funding from CPS and provide an office for them. In a report issued by Florida DCF, we can see how much money is spent by these sheriff departments assisting CPS, and it shows that for the Fiscal Year 2014-2015 that the Broward County Sheriff office spent $15,052,477.00 on Child Protective Services. (Source.)

Who is Investigating Child Protective Services?

Those who regularly read articles published on Health Impact News and specifically our MedicalKidnap.com website know that abuse of authority within CPS organizations around the country is common, and not rare. Good social workers who become whistleblowers or leave social services due to the massive corruption tell us that a very small percentage of children removed from their homes have actually been abused. The figure given to us is less than 10%.

But due to massive amounts of federal funding available for both foster care and adoption, states must meet quotas of children removed from homes to take advantage of these federal funds.

And while social workers are government employees, they are not armed (yet), they therefore need the assistance of local law enforcement to remove children from their families against the desire of the parents and children.

When the term “child abuse” is alleged and accused, Constitutional rights seem to disappear, and parents can lose their children with no due process of law. Suspected criminals such as rapists, murderers, terrorists, etc., all have more rights in civil court than parents accused of child abuse have in family courts.

See:

Does the State Ever Have a “Right” to Remove Children from a Home?

Sheriffs are elected officials and control law enforcement at the county level. Their job is to protect the Constitutional rights of their constituents. If this problem of “legal kidnapping” and child trafficking is going to be solved, county sheriffs need to step up and start investigating the abuses within CPS agencies, and STOP complying with them in the removal of children, unless there is a warrant issued by a judge based on real facts of abuse. See:

Are Constitutional Sheriffs America’s Hope to Ending Child Protective Services’ Tyranny?

But when county sheriff’s departments like Broward County in Florida receive millions of dollars to work together with CPS agents, is there not a very obvious conflict of interest in upholding the Constitutional rights of the citizens within that county? Do they not become accomplices, either wittingly or unwittingly, in the crimes committed by social workers who routinely abuse the Constitutional rights of families by removing children without warrants, and often simply based on an allegation from a tip called into a hotline?

Citizens Need to Hold Their Sheriffs Accountable

Your county sheriff is elected by you and your neighbors. Educate them on the abuses regularly occurring within CPS agencies. Tell them your stories if you have had your Constitutional rights violated. Share with them this article that we have published:

Are Constitutional Sheriffs America’s Hope to Ending Child Protective Services’ Tyranny?

Demand that they protect you from the oversight of government abuse within social services, and if they refuse, elect a new sheriff who will better represent you when you have the opportunity!

CPS is powerless to enforce their child kidnappings without law enforcement, and the more law enforcement can be educated on these abuses of power, the better the chances families have to fight back against this current corrupt system known commonly as “CPS.”