Angela Deniece Dukes, Neonatal Intensive Care Nurse, Charged in Death of 9-Month Old Curtis Williams, Allegedly Taped Pacifier to Baby's Mouth

Angela Dukes, Charged in Nine-Month Old Baby's Death,
The State newspaper

Neonatal intensive care nurse Angela Deniece Dukes, 30, was arrested yesterday for allegations of taping a pacifier to the mouth of a nine-month old boy, Curtis Williams, who suffocated to death. She is charged with unlawful neglect of a child. You see, if these allegations are true, Dukes should have known better because of the nature of her profession. It seems that the odds were against this baby from the start. The Department of Social Services reportedly took him into custody from his birth mother on February 7 and placed him in DSS, a foster home, after he tested positive for THC, which is the active ingredient in marijuana. Dukes is at Richland County jail and faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted.

Richland County Coroner Gary Watts had said earlier that the boy was found face-down amid sheets and a fluffy comforter, and that there was a crib in the home where the child should have slept. Curtis was pronounced dead at Lexington Medical Center at 9:59 a.m. on Feb. 8 of asphyxiation, Watts said Wednesday. Source: The State

According to The State newspaper, preliminary autopsy reports found the anti-allergy medication Benadryl in his system. The birth mother, Katrina Jivers, should be ashamed of her behavior that led to the child being taken away from her. The baby was taken away from her after police found him and his mother in a hotel room filled with marijuana smoke. She was charged with unlawful conduct toward a child, contributing to the delinquency of a child and possession of marijuana. There's more, according to The State, her two-year old daughter tested positive for cocaine and was placed in a different licensed foster home. She was charged with unlawful conduct toward a child and contributing to the delinquency of a child. As far as I am concerned, this woman is scum. She should be sterilized so that she cannot have any more children.

All too often many blame the system for failing our children, when in fact that isn't the case. You have to take a look at some of the homes these children are living in. This woman was clearly an unfit mother from the start. Is this the best she could do for her children? There are so many decent, hardworking and law-abiding couples who can't have kids and would be great parents if they could. This situation also points to a bigger picture -- no father in the home. There is a breakdown in many homes across this country because there is no father figure present to help rear these kids. The system failed these kids in as a far as leaving the daughter with this mother, when it was obvious she was unfit. Katrina Jivers and Angela Deniece Dukes have failed this little boy and it is a tragedy on so many levels.