So many facts are being ignored in the case of Mikey Cardena. This editorial outlines many of them. The best interests of the child are being ignored. Links to two court documents are below
By Lisa M. Boudreau
Privileged Probation?
I’m trying to understand how a mother would request to have the father of her child arrested, quite possibly in front of him, and sent to jail for 6 months as is the current status in the Amber Buck verses Michael Cadena case. Would this traumatizing circumstance not go against all medical recommendations from those currently treating the child? Yet, she still sought a request that would distressingly remove him from his current home that is arguably the most stable he has resided in. This, adding to trauma he already sustained while previously in her care after being exposed to drugs, domestic abuse, arrests, child abuse, and neglect. A mother, mind you, that although she may now be deemed “fit”, is still on probation. Not completed with probation, still on probation. If she solely believes that her actions are in the best interest of her son, then why would she go about it in the most harrowing of ways that could cause him greater harm? One would think it should instead be done in the most leniently stressful way possible. I also have to ask, why haven’t we heard from psychologists on her side to weigh in on if this distressing removal would damage the child or set him back developmentally? Why has no transition plan been established should this change end up happening so as to prepare the child prior to a relocation? Why not seek to do supervised visitation in Massachusetts? Why not try to establish a relationship in an environment that he is already thriving in beforehand?
Moreover, why is the McLean County Judge dismissing a pending case where emergency jurisdiction is being reconsidered? A reconsideration due to the MA Judge realizing his original ruling may have been in haste. Per UCCJEA law “a court may not exercise jurisdiction if a proceeding is pending elsewhere.” Yet, Judge Hill continues to still hold hearings. In his original ruling, Judge Casey stated “there exist legitimate concerns about the safety of the child in Illinois.” He then went on to say he didn’t feel it “necessary for Massachusetts to exert jurisdiction to lessen those risks”; a position he is now reconsidering as he realized there are more factors to consider.
Also, forgive me as I am not versed in Illinois law, but can someone explain to me how a person charged with 5 Class X felony charges could end up with only probation and still get full custody of a child that was previously removed on an emergency order due to child endangerment and neglect in her care? Class X charges she received while already on probation from two other felonies. Apart from first-degree murder, which has no classification, the most serious type of offense in Illinois is a Class X felony. A defendant who is convicted of a Class X felony cannot be sentenced to probation. The only way for an individual to be eligible for probation is if the prosecution amends the charges to lower felony class. So because she entered a plea to testify against her then boyfriend, the county lowered her sentence drastically enough to just give her probation? Also, can someone explain to me how regardless of overwhelming evidence, a neglect charge was never implemented by McLean County?
In May of 2017, Judge Freitag is quoted as saying “I’m impressed, frankly, with your drive and determination. Such effort is not commonly seen from defendants in similar situations.” This he said in response to a 460 page binder that was submitted to the court detailing Amber Buck’s recovery efforts. This, Judge Freitag said is what helped convince him to give her the chance of probation. Now I’ve vetted this binder of so called redemption, and what I found was nothing short of interesting. I found that it included numerous certificates or awarded merits that were from her childhood and not during her time of recovery. To me, this should have been deemed irrelevant. Additionally, there were many certificates of achievement from a company that research shows her own father owned; thus, these seem clearly biased and intriguingly were issued during times that she was actively involved in criminal actively. This leads me to think that they were perhaps falsified. I also found certificates from Locks of Love that only show she donated hair after a cut and letters of achievement or recognition from a foundation that her family has a local chapter. For example, one letter of recommendation on behalf of Project Share was from her grandmother who does not carry the Buck name, which could very easily mislead anyone who would not know of the relationship otherwise. Furthermore, there are many unsigned letters with suspiciously the same style, font, and exact verbiage from people who I could not validate their existence. Other letters were from family, friends, and church acquaintances. Over 200 remaining pages of this binder are pictures of her with her family. Several of them, however, are of her children that I found were from Michael Cadena’s Facebook page.
There is a letter dated 1/2/17 that states she had been receiving treatment individually and within a group setting since 8/3/2016. It states that she has attended 19 of these treatment groups for a domestic violence program as ordered by the court in which they “taught her to take responsibility for staying in unhealthy relationships and putting her children at risk.” It goes on to say that “she is able to identify red flags and power and control behaviors in past relationships” and “she has become a leader of the groups and that many of the women have benefited from her insights”. At that time she only had 5 more classes to qualify for graduation. She completed this program on 2/16/17.
What I find particularly interesting is there is no mention in any of the letters or progress updates from Chestnut Health Systems that she was in violation of the program’s teachings when caught in December 2016 secretly still involved with Colin Dameron. Public record of these jail calls detail her discussing tactics to secretly send him money so as not to be discovered by DCFS or authorities as it would negatively impact her getting her children back should she be caught lying about their interactions. There were also several calls detailing disputes between the two over his alleged affair with another girl. And yet, she still continued these conversations; dismissing that she was again putting herself and children at risk. An arrest in December 2016 soon followed the discovery of these calls. Despite all this, she still graduated this program when she clearly should have failed. It was not addressed as a part of her ongoing treatment, nor was it suggested she repeat the program.
So I must ask, did anyone from the McLean County judicial offices check the validity of the information submitted to the court prior to the Judge’s review; especially, if this would weigh heavily in his decision of her sentence? I would assume had they done their due diligence they would have discovered the numerous discrepancies as I did.
Is this supposed negligence common practice within the court system in McLean County? The more I dig into this case, I am shocked by the outcome and curiosity has me wanting to look into similar cases to see if there is a pattern or if this was something suspiciously different.
This is your community, Bloomington/Normal. What are your thoughts? Let’s discuss.
,Amber first Plea Deal for three separate cases meth, pounds, pills
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Sponsored:
I know one usually thinks of them as a criminal court thing, but if you’re going to civil court in McLean County, always ask for a court recorder. The official transcript is extremely helpful if you need to file a motion to reconsider or a an appeal.
Give the kid back to his daddy he might love his mommy but he don’t want it live with her he knows where he feels save and if you leave him there you will either kill the kid or you are going to make this kid have allot of promblems in life because he is not going to get the love and the I can’t if the word but you will make this very pretty and smart young child turn out to be in jail it dead because he was placed in a home with drug and when you ant got them drugs you can’t take care of a child and you mean and hateful and you need the drug to do thing I know I’m a recoving addict for 7 years now and from the pic I seen this lady ant off drug you might have go by you all and it’s easy to do but she’s still using and the reason she wants the kid right now is for the money and to hurt the daddy now if it was 100% his mom was clean yes but I seen the pic I know how this game works but she ant ready to change her life having to much fun and now she has the kid she can get money from the dad to help her with her drugs not the child he might get 2 or 3 dollars spent on him I have since so much since I changed my life around and my kids is the reason I did it and its a battle I fight everyday and ibwilll fight it till I die and she need to pick a new crowd of people now when thus dad goes to get his child lord knows what he’s going to see if he dont end up in jail because of the mommy and him trying to keep his kid safe someone needs to hurry before something happens the drug that was talked about are some bad ass shit and it will take your life and you think you got it controlled but you dont the drug controls you I’m a mommy of four speaking to help this kid I know I have been on the other side my little girls dad hit her blacked the hole side of her face and I was in the hospital with our 3 month old dieing I was all Aline with no one and then when he come home my 19 month old had been hit by her daddy and he only spent 5 months then they was going to give NY kids to him and I told them I will kill him first they was like you can’t say that and again ibwill kill him first but I got them back he was on drugs bad he ant since his kids 1 boy and 1 girl since the girl was 4 and she’s 17 now she has wanted to talk to him but he will not speak to her but he was talking to the boy till he lied to the boy over and over now the boy hates him and his 16
I have found the judges in McLean County to be lax, lenient, and lazy. The judges involved in this case should know all of what this writer knows. That is if the best interests of the child are truly paramount. Sounds like the female parent should be behind bars.
Many, many, idiotic stories regarding how the McLean County State’s Attorney’s office and judicial offices operate can be told. It’s worse than a circus down there as there isn’t anything funny about any of it. In the case of this child he’s being tossed around lke a yo-yo rather than someone understanding the “intent” of the law rather than just some technical legal b.s.
The States Att Juvenile division has deteriorated in the last 10 years. There was a time that the court-judges, attorneys, workers held parents to the letter of the law. it appears that there has been a relaxation of good practice and giving the parents every opportunity to get their children back. Sorry folks, sometimes they are both dirtbags and are not capable of caring for or raising a child. Moms history is more of a concern than the fathers at this time. As usual, the social workers and other ‘helpers’ appear to be being lax and letting the parents push them and the courts around. If their are court orders, they are to be followed- their purpose is for the protection of the child. Who is the GAL in court for this case?
Judge isn’t considering what they said.b unfortunately I can’t print the recommendations.
As the writer stated he is not familiar with Illinois law yet certainly goes on and on
Let the judge decide under Illinois law.
The judge doesn’t care about the child, it’s not in his best interest to get ripped from the only stable home he had ever known
Tom, I believe is a leftist – they LOVE authoritarian laws as long as they are not ones that might inhibit THEM in some way or effect an illegal. They LOVE BIG law, BIG Govt you get the drift as long as it isn’t one of their pet “causes”. The current batch of people who look after kids in the legal/protective sense is full of book smart but life stupid people – it sounds like they have been involved in this poor kid’s case a LOT. They leave kids and put kids into horrific situations all the time.
Holy Toledo, this Tom guy must be one of the mean people that Rich was talking about!
Tom, 1. I am female and 2. While I am not specifically versed in Illinois law, I can tell you that after researching this entire case I do not have confidence in McLean County to do what is in the best of this child. The more I investigate, the more instances of negligence are apparent. It’s quite frightening; especially, when you would assume they would be much more cautious when their mistakes in a previous case were exposed and made national headlines in regards to a local tragedy.
This is an awesome article, well done and based on facts.
John @ TruthSeekers Investigations Group
Judge hill does not care about this child. How she has remained on the bench all this time is unknown. This child deserves happiness and should remain where he currently is. Judge hill..you are retiring soon. I would think thst you wouldnt want this very bad situtation to haunt you for the rest.of your life.
I Always vote ‘no’ on judicial retentions. It is very difficult to get the word out about judicial mis- or malfeasance, so I figure if a concerned citizen manages to get anywhere close to getting a judgeship pulled, it’s probably well deserved and they deserve my help.
McLean county is the ‘9th federal judicial circuit’ of Illinois jurisprudence – our judge Reynard was the only judge in all of IL Not recommended for retention by the IL Civil Justice League a couple years back.
Having been threw a guardianship case myself let me tell you judges are idiots. They have no common sense. The ward I have been a care taker for about 20 years and I was looked as being almost like a criminal. Another family member that had little interaction was seeking guardianship too. About $15K later I am now the guardian. The only winners are the courts, lawyers and temporary guardians. I see many similarities in this case for this boy. His father it sounds like to me should do everything he can to keep him. Gawd forbid any judge would do what is right with common sense. Even I considered taking the ward to another state just to get away from IL laws and judges. I even considered Canada too.
BTW I will be opposing one female judge from being re-elected if she tries to run again. I’ll do anything, put up signs, posters, hand outs, etc. She’s one judge that needs to be shown the exit door. Her values don’t equate to our Christian values. Let her have an affair on someone’s dime rather than the taxpayers. .
Sounds like a judge I know! Great news may be coming soon.
This case is very disturbing and if they are not doing due diligence then how many other family cases are like this as well that doesn’t have the money to keep up the court battles….this kind of action has happened in the past. Is it a negligent pattern that could become a class action lawsuit for the benefit of the children who are being neglected and put into harm’s way by the system put in place to protect them.