{"id":14,"date":"2011-04-15T19:03:00","date_gmt":"2011-04-15T19:03:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/100.42.52.148\/~klaaskid\/blog\/?p=14"},"modified":"2018-04-05T12:59:40","modified_gmt":"2018-04-05T19:59:40","slug":"amber-alert-absurdity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.klaaskids.org\/blog\/amber-alert-absurdity\/","title":{"rendered":"Amber Alert Absurdity"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n
\"\"H<\/span>ow many children do we have to lose before California and the rest of the nation admit that the Amber Alert is broken? On November 10, 2010, 44-year old Charles Berlinghoff disappeared with his 15-year old niece Jean Marie Berlinghoff without her parents\u2019 permission. They have not been seen since. The California Highway Patrol (CHP) has steadfastly refused to issue an Amber Alert. They say that the case does not fit the criteria.<\/span><\/div>\n

\n<\/span><\/div>\n
A convicted sex offender who hid his past from his family, Uncle Charlie suddenly reappeared after a decade long absence. In 2005, he exploited family ties and slithered his way back into younger brother Jake\u2019s life. A bassist for metal bands in Los Angeles, Charlie would stay with Jacob and his teen-aged daughters during occasional visits to Northern California.<\/span><\/div>\n

\n<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0During his most recent visit Jacob intercepted a text message in which Uncle Charlie called 15-year old Jean Marie\u00a0\u201cbaby\u201d. When confronted Uncle Charlie became defensive. The brothers nearly came to blows before Charlie agreed that he would return to Los Angeles that day. Jake did not know that he would take Jean Marie with him. <\/span><\/div>\n

\n<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0Uncle Charlie left his open, half packed suitcase on the bed and drove off in his gray 1987 Oldsmobile Cutlass <\/a>with California plate 2DNX546. Many hours later, when Uncle Charlie had not returned and Jean Marie could not be located, Jake called Charlie\u2019s cell phone. It had been turned off. The chase was on.<\/span><\/div>\n

\n<\/span><\/div>\n
Charlie Berlinghoff is a dangerous predator who was convicted of indecent exposure in Shasta County in 1993. In 1998, he was charged with four counts of misdemeanor child molestation and one felony count of indecent exposure \"\"in Tehama County. On November 16, 2010 a $100,000 felony arrest warrant was issued for Uncle Charlie. He is wanted for detainment or concealment of a child from her father.<\/span><\/div>\n

\n<\/span><\/div>\n
Despite repeated requests from the Shasta County Sheriff the CHP has refused to issue an Amber Alert. CHP spokesperson Fran Clader said that the disappearance, “Did not meet all the required criteria, which include the belief that the child is in imminent danger of serious injury or death”. <\/span><\/div>\n

\n<\/span><\/div>\n
Jean Marie is not out for a ride with her “cool” Uncle Charlie: He is a known sexual predator The popular teenager, who always keeps in close contact with family and friends took nothing with her when she left. “Baby” has been held against her will for more than two weeks now and has seemingly disappeared off the face of the earth. If this doesn’t rise to the level of imminent threat, tha what case does?<\/span><\/div>\n

\n<\/span><\/div>\n
Unfortunately, like Uncle Ernie in the rock opera Tommy, evil can manifest itself inside the family unit as easily as outside. Family abductions can be predatory. Adults who are not familiar relatives have sexual motivation associated with murdering children. In 1999, Edward Milka <\/a>kidnapped and murdered his 11-year old niece Brittany Martinez. Uncle Karl Brewer <\/a>sits on death row for the 1999 kidnapped and murdered 12-year old Andi Brewer. Jessie Dotson <\/a>murdered his brother\u2019s entire family in Nashville in 2008.<\/span><\/div>\n

\n<\/span><\/div>\n
Among its many other faults the Amber Alert is illogical, arbitrary and broken. Two weeks prior to Jean Berlinghoff\u2019s disappearance, the CHP activated an Amber Alert <\/a>for a 13-year-old missing girl investigators believed was lured away from her home by an adult she had been communicating with on the internet. On August 20, 2010, a regional Amber Alert <\/a>was activated in the Bay Area for the Oakland Police Department for a 2 year old female kidnapped by her father.<\/span><\/div>\n

\n<\/span><\/div>\n
What I want to know is who decided that local law enforcement was not qualified to activate a local Amber Alert? A local activation would be based upon firsthand knowledge of the case, the family and the community. It would further save critical hours; the one issue that everybody acknowledges is the most important factor in the quick and successful recovery of children who have been kidnapped by sexual predators. After all, we trust local authorities with guns, why not the ability to activate an Amber Alert?<\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ow many children do we have to lose before California and the rest of the nation admit that the Amber Alert is broken? On November 10, 2010, 44-year old Charles Berlinghoff disappeared with his 15-year old niece Jean Marie Berlinghoff without her parents\u2019 permission. They have not been seen since. The California Highway Patrol (CHP) […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,4],"tags":[232,267,263],"class_list":["post-14","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-jean-berlinghoff","category-missing-children","tag-amber-alert-2","tag-charles-berlinghoff-2","tag-jean-berlinghoff-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.klaaskids.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.klaaskids.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.klaaskids.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.klaaskids.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.klaaskids.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.klaaskids.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3514,"href":"https:\/\/www.klaaskids.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14\/revisions\/3514"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.klaaskids.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.klaaskids.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.klaaskids.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}