Neglected By Nerds

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dveit

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Wired News - AP News
RENO, Nev. (AP) -- A couple authorities say were so obsessed with the Internet and video games that they left their babies starving and suffering other health problems have pleaded guilty to child neglect.

The children of Michael and Iana Straw, a boy age 22 months and a girl age 11 months, were severely malnourished and near death last month when doctors saw them after social workers took them to a hospital, authorities said. Both children are doing well and gaining weight in foster care, prosecutor Kelli Ann Viloria told the Reno Gazette-Journal.

Michael Straw, 25, and Iana Straw, 23, pleaded guilty Friday to two counts each of child neglect. Each faces a maximum 12-year prison sentence. Viloria said the Reno couple were too distracted by online video games, mainly the fantasy role-playing "Dungeons & Dragons" series, to give their children proper care.
"They had food; they just chose not to give it to their kids because they were too busy playing video games,"
Viloria told the Reno Gazette-Journal.

Police said hospital staff had to shave the head of the girl because her hair was matted with cat urine. The 10-pound girl also had a mouth infection, dry skin and severe dehydration. Her brother had to be treated for starvation and a genital infection. His lack of muscle development caused him difficulty in walking, investigators said. The Straws have been given public defenders. Jeremy Bosler, head of the county public defender's office, declined to comment Saturday.

Michael Straw is an unemployed cashier, and his wife worked for a temporary staffing agency doing warehouse work, according to court records. He received a $50,000 inheritance that he spent on computer equipment and a large plasma television, authorities said. While child abuse because of drug addiction is common, abuse rooted in video game addiction is rare, Viloria said. Last month, experts at an American Medical Association meeting backed away from a proposal to designate video game addiction as a mental disorder, saying it had to be studied further. Some said the issue is like alcoholism, while others said there was no concrete evidence it's a psychological disease.

Patrick Killen, spokesman for Nevada Child Abuse Prevention, said video game addiction's correlation to child abuse is "a new spin on an old problem."
"As we become more technologically advanced, there's more distractions," Killen said. "It's easy for someone to get addicted to something and neglect their children. Whether it's video games or meth, it's a serious issue, and (we) need to become more aware of it."
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This is fucking pathetic. Look at these creeps. They look related?
 
Good lord... even I know my limits.

Sheesh. That's part of the family we don't particularly like talking about.
 
Michael Straw, 25
Straw,-MIchael-0712012-768856.jpg

what happend to his hair?
 
yeah, this is sad. This heinous type of act is normally.. like 90% of the time, committed by pot heads.
 
Neither has seen the sun in a long, long time.

what happend to his hair?

Dont knock baldness.. A friend of mine is 26 and has alot less hair than that guy. You know when (Austin Powers) Scott walked in and doctor evil saw that he was missing a bunch of hair.. That reaction that Dr Evil had to it.. I swear I had the exact same reaction.. Dude had moved to austin and I Hadn's seen him in a little over a year. He went from full head of hair to mostly bald in that short period of time.
 
Typical reaction. Typical misconception.

+1. Noticing the age difference of 11 months; I see that she waited 2 months before getting pregnant again. What a winner. They do look related. Those poor children. I'm guessing this is more of a problem than people realize. However, I don't see why you quickly go to assuming it's 'marijuana's' fault in most cases. Just want something to blame it on? Or have you had one (truly convincing) experience?
 
+1. Noticing the age difference of 11 months; I see that she waited 2 months before getting pregnant again. What a winner. They do look related. Those poor children. I'm guessing this is more of a problem than people realize. However, I don't see why you quickly go to assuming it's 'marijuana's' fault in most cases. Just want something to blame it on? Or have you had one (truly convincing) experience?

Oh noooooooo... it couldn't be that they're bad parents or anything. Must be the devil weed possessing their minds.

I mean, I could yank a statistic outta my ass that says 95% of cases of child abuse can be linked to alcohol. Is this a case of bad parenting or are the spirits of the devil controlling him through the evil fermented liquid?

Well, depending on what state you live in, the whole devil possession thing would fly. Worked for drowning children.
 
Exactly. And here, we're going to find that pot CAUSES bad parenting. :D Seriously, though, it's like bad drivers; bad parenting skills and bad driving is colorblind and can affect anyone. Even smart people. Trust me.
 
Exactly. And here, we're going to find that pot CAUSES bad parenting. :D Seriously, though, it's like bad drivers; bad parenting skills and bad driving is colorblind and can affect anyone. Even smart people. Trust me.

The only thing that pot causes is the snack food industry.
 
yeah, this is sad. This heinous type of act is normally.. like 90% of the time, committed by pot heads.

90% of drowning victims aren't very good swimmers.

90% of rape victims are kinda hot.

90% of murderers have used alcohol.

I see where you're comin from Cel :blink:
 
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