For Shame, Charlie Copeland
By now, we are all aware of the despicable crimes alleged of Dr. Earl Bradley, a Sussex County pediatrician. Charlie Copeland has now decided that it is all Beau Biden’s fault. Much like Rudy Giuliani, Charles Lamont du Pont Copeland has a faulty memory, or is an outright liar. Or perhaps Copeland, despite all his family money, can’t read. But let’s take a look again at the decade long systemic failures to allowed Bradley to allude the system for so long as detailed in the Cris Barrish article from early this week, which Charlie must have read.
The [probable cause affidavit that led to Bradley’s arrest last week] includes accounts from state police as well as Milford police. It was Milford police who revealed Tuesday they had tried to charge Bradley in the spring of 2005 with offensive touching after a 3-year-old girl complained that he kissed her too much.
No arrest was made, Milford police said, because then-Attorney General M. Jane Brady’s office decided they could not win the case.
Interesting. So if Beau Biden is incompetent, as Charlie Copeland charges, why hasn’t Charlie made the same charge against the now Honorable M. Jane Brady of the Superior Court, who was Attorney General at the time? It was her office, her prosecutors, that decided in 2005 (a full two years before Beau Biden became Attorney General) that there was not enough evidence apparently to win the case. Now, at this point, we do not know what led to that decision by the former REPUBLICAN Attorney General to not pursue the case. In hindsight, perhaps it was she that was incompetent. Or perhaps it was the Milford police?
The police affidavit released Wednesday made clear that, although Bradley was not arrested until last month, police had spoken at length to several alleged victims and their parents over the last several years.
Why were the police gun shy here? Were they burned by the prior rejection by Attorney General Brady? Were they incompetent? It seems that with each complaint there was simply not enough evidence to make an arrest or a case beyond a reasonable doubt. Doesn’t that point to the incompetence of the police investigation? But you can’t call the police incompetent, for that is like blaming America or something. I wonder if the FOP has donated to Charlie before. That would explain Charlie’s silence.
Police and prosecutors have said that before Bradley was arrested, they vigorously pursued complaints against him. Attorney General Beau Biden [said] in a written statement […] that in hopes of arresting Bradley more than a year ago, investigators sought a search warrant for Bradley’s office in December 2008. [However,] a judge denied the request, and “determined there was not sufficient probable cause to move forward.”
Was this so far unnamed Judge incompetent? Charlie is probably silent as to that because he doesn’t know if the Judge is a personal friend, or a Republican. If we find out the Judge is a Democrat, the charges of incompetence will no doubt fly from Charlie’s fork shaped tongue. And if we find out the Judge is a Republican or a personal friend, there will be crickets.
Though it is now evident that several doctors, police officers and prosecutors knew about Bradley’s alleged crimes for a period of years, the Delaware Board of Medical Practice has said it never received a complaint about the pediatrician who has been practicing in Delaware since 1994 after working for about a decade in Philadelphia.
Is the Delaware Board of Medical Practice incompetent? Were all the doctors and nurses who worked with him throughout the last 15 years? It would seem that the Sussex County medical community and nearly the entire staff of Beebe Medical Center knew that Bradley was a pedophile, and yet not a single complaint was made to the DBMP? One doctor called Bradley a pedophile, and that doctor did not make a complaint to the DBMP? How is that possible but for incompetence? I wonder why Charlie has not called them incompetent?
We are going to learn a lot of disgusting things about ourselves and our system of justice. This case represents a failure of both our justice system and our common humanity. It is a case that no doubt involves failures by Republican and Democratic officials, up and down the state, whether they be Judges or Attorneys General or police or doctors or investigators or parents or nurses. It is a case that screams out for an nonpartisan independent investigation, as Govenor Markell has called for, rather than an investigation from the Attorney General’s office that should be busy prosecuting Bradley to the fullest extent possible. Indeed, if Attorney General Biden had its office conduct an investigation and it determined that Republican Jane Brady was at fault, I am 100% positive that Charlie Copeland would scream that the investigation was a partisan witch hunt and that Biden was biased. You know that is true because all Charlie Copeland is any more is a rabid Michelle Bachmann-like partisan. Here he is trying to politicize this case, not for his own benefit, but for his party’s benefit.
For shame, Charlie Copeland. By politicizing this tragedy, you are letting down the very victims of Dr. Bradley.
What’s clear to me is that this was a systemic failure. It sounds like all the evidence they needed was there but it was in different places and they were having a hard time putting it together. I don’t know the reason why it was so difficult to put it together (especially considering how brazen Bradley was) and that’s why an investigation is necessary.
I think it is a good thing that Biden’s office and the governor’s office are investigating what happened. Let us just remember, we’re looking with 20/20 hindsight now.
Have never seen a tragedy that was not politicized, that,s to be expected, this entire incident makes me uncomfortable as hell. the less I read about it the better, c,mon, three year olds, this, if the allegations are true, is about the low point of human behavior, if he,s convicted his life will be brief if he,s put among the general prison population.
And equally shameful, Charlie’s muse, Lee Williams over at CRI:
Maybe Beau was with his dying grandmother, you ignorant slob. Go back to your one-handed typing of gun advocacy drivel.
Apparently Lee’s panties were in a knot because Beau didn’t return Lee’s calls or his teabagger buddies’ calls.
Hint: Whenever you see something disgusting from Charlie, most of the time you can find it written better a day earlier at CRI.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/09/us/09brfs-REVIEWORDERE_BRF.html
From the New York Times story Anon just posted, it contains just this paragraph but has a new piece of information:
This just reinforces my point. Why isn’t Charlie Copeland calling the medical licensing board incompetent? Why is it Biden’s fault that the medical licensing board rejected the complaints? Why is it his fault that Jane Brady rejected the case in 2005? Because Charlie is trying to politicize this.
I normally only comment on issues or facts or to explain a position I have taken but in this case I’ll make an exception and get personal.
SHAME ON YOU CHARLEY COPELAND, SHAME ON YOU LEE WILLIAMS, any legitimacy either of you may have tried to claim in matters of public policy or public interest now rests at the bottom of the cistern where you choose to conduct your shameless, partisan self-promotional stage play. Look for forgiveness for yourselves, it may soothe your hatred.
John K.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-us-delaware-pediatrician-rape,0,2675826.story
More thorough story.
And here are interesting portions of that LA Times story Anon has so helpfully posted:
Like I said, why isn’t the entire staff of Beebe Medical Center incompetent in Charlie’s eyes? Because Charlie doesn’t know if they are Democratic or Republican, or because he won’t get any political mileage out of it.
So the first time Charlie Copeland can deign to even think about this horror show in his blog is to score some political points against Beau Biden. Am I the only one who thinks that this is what’s incompetent?
There are real kids and real parents who have been hurt possibly beyond healing here. And there were multiple nodes of the system that is supposed to watch for kids that completely failed here. And nodes that have been failing for more than a decade. And all Charlie can think of is making some political hay out of this. Instead of being horrified that multiple pieces of the system that ought to have been protecting kids has been non-functional for a decade (so what other kids are at risk?), he wants to parse the tea leaves over whether Gov Markell is happy or not with Beau Biden.
What an amazingly small man Copeland is. And someone who apparently thinks that aspiring to the debased and disjointed political rhetoric of Mike Protack has some political future is someone who I think is pretty much just going to be a defender of the Delaware Way. There is something going on here that is bigger than your political ambitions, Charlie. And speaking for myself, I will be delighted to remind people at every possibility that you did not give a shit about the fact that real kids and parents got victimized while you twiddled about looking for ways to score political points.
You nailed it Cassandra. Charlie Copeland is acting like Mike Protack 2.0. And given Charlie’s lack of electoral success recently, that description is all the more apt.
So is CRI finally shedding its “non-partisan” clothing?
Delaware Dem,
I have two nephews and one niece that were patients of Dr. Bradley. Please don’t pretend that you are any better than Charlie “Ricky Schroder” Copeland in politicizing this story.
Excuse me, Jerry, but I have not politicized this story at all. You saying I have is an outright lie. Charlie Copeland has politicized this story, and you come on here to defend him, by falsely comparing his actions to mine? Get off it.
I hope your nieces and nephews are not victims, and if they were, you have my sympathies, and if they were, you should be as outraged as I am at Charlie Copeland. That you are not speaks volumes.
The Pennsylvania twist on the story is new. I’m very interested to hear what’s going on there. I think this is why the governor is getting involved. I also want to hear about the medical review system. When I was living in Buffalo there was a story about an incompetent surgeon who was allowed to practice by moving place to place and allegations wouldn’t catch up to him. He was so bad that nurses would hide patients from him. To me it sounds like medical liscensing boards need to be looked at to protect patients first and doctors second, if that’s indeed what happened.
There are so many unanswered questions surrounding this case, and my guess is, that when all is said and done, they’ll be plenty of blame to go around.
For Copeland to cherry-pick information to promote (and suit) his political views is beyond shameful. In his post Copeland has revealed his agenda and exactly what sort of man he is.
When the story first broke that the AG’s office in essence threw up its hands in 2005, AG Biden did not drop the political bomb on Brady, even though, by that time, Brady had tired of playing AG and was looking to find a golden parachute to the bench. Biden was diplomatic, to say the least.
My first thought was, ‘Imagine if the parties of the two AG’s had been reversed’. Rethugs would have been all over it.
Since the Rethugs operated in a political no-truth zone, is anyone surprised at what Charles Bouvier de Flanders Copeland has done? It is BIG LIES ALL THE TIME AND EVERYTHING IS ABOUT POLITICS, NOT POLICY. Like Rudy saying that we were attacked under Obama but not under Bush. Truth has nothing to do with it. Repetition for the mindless is the strategy. Hence, Fox News.
This should not be a political story, it’s way too important. I couldn’t care less whose careers get ruined when the facts are out. Children have permanent psychic scars because of this pedophile pediatrician. They must have justice.
Fortunately for us, Cris Barrish is covering the story, so we’re in good hands. He’s one of the few reminders of what newspapers can and must be. This is not a story the bloggers can cover, it can only be done by a top-notch investigative reporter. He’ll get to the tawdry bottom of this.
Yes, I have found Cris Barrish to be a very good and fair reporter.
Exactly, ‘Bulo. We must get to the bottom of this because it’s way more important than politics. We need to know what happened because we want to make sure that it never happens again. I have absolutely no doubt that a lot of people will look bad once we know what happens. But let us keep in mind that the real criminal is Dr. Bradley. My heart goes out to his victims and their families. I can’t imagine living this nightmare.
When we are looking for people to blame, let us also remember how our justice system works. You can’t bring charges against someone without evidence. If you do you are in a different kind of trouble. This is fine with me; I like our justice system to have this feature.
From a technical legal point of view, I’d take a closer look at that warrant that was denied, and find out why. Was the request botched? Or was it a strong request but the judge’s reasoning was flawed or improperly influenced?
The worst blame I think, is found below the level of the justice system, with the physician peer groups and medical institutions.
And thank you for finally shining some light on Charlie Copeland’s nasty little blog. His poisonous postings go back a long way; this is not the first.
I think that when all is said and done there will be plenty of fault to be shared by a bunch of people. The doctors and others who worked with this guy should have raised some flags with the state medical oversight authorities. There is a judge here who did not agree that there was probable cause for a search warrant years back. Maybe that judge was right, maybe not. Maybe it is just the way the system works. But it seems to me that if an allegation of child abuse is enough to remove a teacher from a classroom while someone looks into it, or enough to get Child Services aggressively in a home after an allegation it doesn’t speak well for the system when it treated this doctor differently.
I agree Anon. As I said, it would appear each time a complaint was brought to AG Brady, by AG Biden to the unnamed Judge, or by parents to the police, there was not enough evidence to pursue the case until, I suppose, the mere cumulative affect of all these complaints finally provided probable cause for a warrant to issue.
It is the way our system of justice works, and it protects the people from unwarranted charges and abuse. It is like that old saying, if you like free speech then you are going to have to defend the right of someone saying something you hate. And another: better to allow one guilty man to go free than 100 innocent men to prison.
But that doesn’t mean we can’t be angry if it appears people held back because of their own fear, or if someone covered something up. And we need to get to the bottom of this.
Imagine what would be said about Beau if he had brought charges without sufficient evidence and lost the case.
I’m with you Cass. When there are allegations of abuse against a member of the police, isn’t that person put on paid leave while it is investigated? Should there be something like that for allegations against physicians as well?
I’m not going to let the medical review board off the hook either. When the complaints were made, did they make it clear to the police what they needed to do? Are these rules clear? Also, why doesn’t a police complaint automatically get registered without a bureaucratic process? I hope the medical board will also investigate their own actions.
Doesn’t it seem like everyone was waiting for someone else to do something here?
anon,
You’re exactly right. I imagine the investigation took so long because they wanted to make sure it was not dismissed (and the AG’s office has had some issues there). No investigators (presumably) knew of the existence of videos by the doctor.
That said, in the absence of strong evidence there are other things that could have been done. Like having an intermediary have a heart-to-heart with the head of the physician licensing board. Or parking a patrol car across the street from Bradley’s office. Or taking a real close look at tax and regulatory compliance or the building codes for his office.
Charlie Copeland is Delaware’s version of Rudy Guiliani. Rewriting history, revisionist, backward thinking thugs who put their republicansism up in front of issue. Copeland like Cheney or Rudy should be ignored. They are irrelevant!
My question is Mike Castle has been in Congress for many years. He has contacts all over Sussex, including Beebee Hospital…hey Mike did YOU know this Doc was molesting children? Wonder if the Doc is republican or democrat? just sayin.
In 2005 wasnt Jane Brady AG? Did she not do a thorough investigation? Did she have police investigate, ask questions of his staff. Of all the allegations of abuse didnt the parents notify police? If they did what did the police do? Who sits on the Medical Review board?
Effete gentry like Copeland once had the dignity and self-awareness to keep their stupid traps shut in public.
That’s quite a leap, just kiddin. Actually, it’s more than a leap, it’s malicious innuendo. I’m no Castle supporter, but, imo, your comment crossed a line. You should retract it and apologize, because you are guilty of what you’re attacking Copeland for.
Effete gentry like Copeland once had the dignity and self-awareness to keep their stupid traps shut in public.
And if not, elders in the family would rein them in. Unfortunately that role is currently held by Pete du Pont.
Charlie has joined the list of nuts in the family tree.
You see what politicizing this tragedy does, Pandora. It gives Justkiddin license to impugn Castle, it gives everybody license to attack everyone, no matter the legitimacy or truth of the charge. Justkiddin is as wrong as Charlie, but Charlie opened this, excuse the pun, Pandora’s box, and we can’t close it now. That is why what Charlie did is so egregious, because lost in all of these charges and countercharges is the truth of what really happened (which will never be known now) and the victims of Dr. Bradley (who are victims all over again).
I hope it’s not true that we’ll never know what happened. I’m wit pandora here, those remarks about Castle knowing are crossing a line.
I agree, jk was over the line. I am hope I am wrong about never knowing the truth.
Worst case is Beau comes out of this clean but politically damaged by harpies like Copeland and the fools who listen to them. I wonder if this case has something to do with the delay in Beau’s announcement.
If Beau runs, the Republican ads will be all pedo, all the time. Castle’s nice-guy image will be shattered for all time.
jk was definitely over the line. As usual.
Whether or not Beau Biden survives this politically is really not on my radar for this thing. It seems to me that he has most of the cards in this case and all of those cards have to do with convicting this monster, with making sure victims feel like they are being fairly dealt with and with coming down where possible on those parts of the system that failed. Like doctors not reporting this guy.
Systemic failure on this scale has a good chance of replication and that is why figuring our what happened and getting it fixed needs to happen as fast as possible.
I agree with Cassandra. Anon’s blog-mented reality goggles are getting the best of him.
I am not overly concerned with Beau’s political survival. But this post IUS about a politically motivated attack on Beau, so I’m not exactly off the reservation to comment on it.
IS
Good point. My perspective as someone who does not follow politics happens to be closer to Cassandra’s. That was my point.
Indeed — and much of the point here is to remind people that the political fallout (the thing that Copeland decided was the most important issue here) is no where near as making sure that there is enough fallout to get this guy in jail and to get the system fixed.
“Excuse me, Jerry, but I have not politicized this story at all.”
Please. You are in desperate need of an editor.
My post actually succeeded in generating good discussion. My point of publishing was simple: The Governor’s investigation could put in jeopardy the legal collection of evidence for criminal prosecution. The time for having a management review is after the criminal investigations are complete. I question the Governor’s timing. There are potentially dozens of people and organizations that hold criminal and civil liability for this fundamental violation of human decency. Let the criminal justice system do its work before other people stick their noses in.
Let the criminal justice system do its work before other people stick their noses in.
Oh my.
(gets popcorn)
Oh my, is correct, anon.
(pass me some popcorn, okay?)
Charlie, you are lying. You did not question the Governor. You said the Governor’s decision indicated that he had no confidence in Beau Biden, and you called Beau Biden incompetent and implied that Govenor Markell thought so too. You did not say the Governor should delay any investigation. You did not say the AG should have time to prosecute the case, and you did not say an independent investigation would interfere with that prosecution.
This is your direct quote: “I agree with the Governor 100% on this issue.”
Here is another quote from you 12 hours ago on your site: “So, I can only assume that the Governor is not pleased with the job that the Attorney General has done (and on this point, I fully agree with the Governor).”
And another, where you question the AG’s investigation: “Evidently, the Governor doesn’t think that the AG’s “[unit] dedicated full-time to protecting kids from predators” is the “right safeguard”. This looks an awful lot like the Governor calling the Attorney General incompetent.”
Wow. So now you disagree with the Governor 100% on this issue, in a span of 12 hours? You make John Kerry blush with that level of flip flopping.
But I do agree with you Charlie, we should let the criminal justice system do its work before other people stick their noses in. But you stuck your nose in 12 hours ago to score some cheap political points, and I will not let the citizens of Delaware forget it. It is a disgrace that you must apologize for immediately.
There are a few problems here:
1) Charlie apparently thinks that we have no reading skills whatsoever;
2) Charlie thinks that claiming credit for “discussion” is a good way to get back the high ground here;
3) Charlie really does not get how serious this problem is.
Since no one here knows the complete contours of the investigation that the Governor is forming, there is no way to come to any conclusions that this work will get in the way of the criminal investigation. PLUS — as I said above, this kind of complete failure means that there are more kids at risk NOW. Taking Charlie’s advise here is a recipe for giving him more blog fodder — but this time of the Why Didn’t They Know ilk.
All I can say is that this is perfect evidence for why it is a REALLY GOOD THING that Charlie and Bill are not running the Executive.
Cass, the contours of the Governor’s investigation were not a concern of Charlie Copeland 12 hours ago. It is a diversionary tactic now to deflect attention of his politicization of this case yesterday. Indeed, he is now making this case, and any investigation of this case whether it be by an independent commission or by the AG’s office, partisan.
First Charlie is against the AG, now he is for the AG. First Charlie is for the Governor, now he is against the Governor. It really is remarkable.
Jerry, I sure hope that your 2 nephews and niece were not victims of this low life doctor. My niece had my great niece in Bebee hospital in July of 2005 and this doctor was there then. My niece fortunately didn’t like something about him and made sure she found another doctor to take over. This is becoming political in my eyes too. It is a shame because it should never have gotten this far. Maybe instead of looking at it in a political light, someone should be looking into the real laws and find out how to change what happened for the future. I want people to be more concerned about the help that the victims need and see that they get it.
You are right, DD.
And this business of not getting in the way of criminal investigations certainly was not a concern when Charlie and his CRI crew were having a field day about alleged abuses at the prison. There were official investigations ongoing then and they were delighted to get all of their muckraking done via the lawyer representing people suing the state. Only. So I’m not buying this respect for criminal investigations BS.
Charlie is interested in having a place in the noise machine, not in whether or not this failure is not repeated.
Somebody’s been drinking too much tea at the parties.I think what Charlie is really worried about here is overreaching socialism in law enforcement since both Governor and Attorney General are left wing Democrats.
The private sector should be able to handle this pedophile without too much government interference, making government smaller, getting it off our back, while at the same time reducing taxation. Dr. Bradley deserves due process, as well as medical malpractice reform to protect him as well as his insurance company from any punitive damage jury awards levied against him. Charlie just wants his country back.
Think123:
MEDICAL MALPRACTICE REFORM? —– OVERREACHING SOCIALISM IN LAW ENRORCEMENT?
You sir are either really way too subtle in your attempts at satire or completely INSANE. The latter I think.
I think think123 is doing clever satire.
You’re right, pardon my overreaction and mental density
I’m going to say here that exempting unsupported allegations of child sexual abuse from the presumption of innocence, for any profession, is not a better way to convict sex predators.
Getting good evidence for prosecution is, and I hope the lag here ensures that justice is swift and conclusive.
A witness sent The Delaware Medical Society a letter, contrary to their claims.
This appears to be the main reason why the Governor had to get involved with a call for a further and independent investigation. If the core problem is that our professional societies act to close ranks and protect each other as a matter of course, it will take a lot of pressure from the top to make the necessary systemic changes to keep our children safe or anyone else for that matter.
http://www.capegazette.com/storiescurrent/201001/bradley-milford08.html
“The fifth witness, the fourth interviewed in April 2005, was a former office manager who worked with Bradley for three years.
Bradley fired the witness because she confronted the doctor about personal problems and financial issues with the business. She said Bradley would take samples of medication out of the office for his own use and that Bradley claimed he was bipolar, taking medications like Zoloft, Paxil and Zitera.
The witness also told police that Bradley physically and emotionally abused his one son but showed a lot of affection toward his daughters. The witness said, as office manager, she received several complaints from parents about improper touching by Bradley.
The most surprising revelations from the witness were that Bradley’s uncle was arrested on pedophilia-related charges in State College, Pa., 16 years ago, confirmed by Delaware State Police.
The witness also stated that when Bradley’s father died in 1965, child pornography was found in his home.
The witness said she filed a letter with the Delaware Medical Society detailing her concerns. An investigation was never conducted. Representatives from the medical society could not be reached for comment.”
Thanks John Kowalko for kickin’ some butt in here. I hadn’t read the CRI site but am not surprised that they are in tandem with Copeland in taking the lowest road.
This story points to the sister as the witness who contacted the Medical Society. There’s definately a fire wall up that has got to be torn down. The story indicates that many many times people who wanted to report this SOB were ‘rebuffed’.
We are going to have to change how professionals in Delaware operate. They can’t be trusted to oversee themselves and that goes for the judges and others in the criminal justice system.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100109/ap_on_re_us/us_delaware_pediatrician_rape/print
Hey, Charlie. Now that you’re over here, are you gonna let us know about your involvement with CRI?
I thought that your posting here was contingent upon that. Or were you hoping that we forgot?
Just a minor point of clarification. The Delaware Medical Society is not an enforcement agency, it is the professional society for doctors, and often lobbies on their behalf.
The Board of Medical Practice is the licensing board, a quasi-state agency under the auspices of the Division of Professional Regulation.
If either or both were notified of this doctor’s actions, and did not pursue the allegations, or at least pass them on to a higher authority, then they are both shamefully negligent, and possibly in violation of Delaware statute. But, it’s the Board of Medical Practice that has investigative authority. And, if the Delaware Medical Society was notified and failed to notify the Board of Medical Practice, then, were I a doctor, I’d demand my dues back because I’d be ashamed to belong.
I like how Charlie updated the headline and content of his post, but he didn’t save the original version. In the blog world, that is a chickenshit move. Whenever I made a mistake in fact or judgment, I always struck out the offending comment to leave it as part of the record. Unless someone got a copy or screen shot of Charlie’s original post, I’m afraid the bullshit (well, not so much bullshit, but the fact that he didn’t equally lay some blame at AG Brady) that he put up is lost to all.
It’s really quite pathetic.
Hmmm…I guess Copeland was ashamed and that’s why he changed the post.
Yeah, and if anyone wonders what it USED to look like, just look at the name that wordpress gave it. THAT didn’t change. It is:
is-gov-markell-suggesting-that-ag-biden-is-incompetent
Technology can be a stubborn bitch.
Damn…I remember a national blog dedicated a post to the topic of slug titles. Good catch, LG!
Does this mean we do need somebody coming between us and our doctor?
Think123 is an awesome talking point killer.
My hands are burning from the irony right now.