Family Requests Federal Monitors from AG Mukasey

[ThomasPaine]

February 28, 2008
For Immediate Release
Contact: Friends of Louis and Elena Piccone
John Piccone 609-923-7234
[email protected]

Family Requests Federal Monitors and FBI to Oversee and Investigate Corruption and Abuse by Massachusetts Department of Social Services, Dalton Massachusetts Police Chief, Berkshire County Family Court and Berkshire County District Attorney

The extended family of Louis and Elena Piccone have requested United States Attorney General Michael Mukasey to dispatch federal monitors to oversee corruption, abuse and harassment by the Massachusetts Department of Social Services (DSS), Dalton Massachusetts Police Chief John W. Bartels, Berkshire County Family Court and Berkshire County District Attorney. The family charges that the named authorities are conspiring to harass and deny the liberty and civil rights of Louis and Elena Piccone and their three young children in retaliation for a lawsuit initiated by attorney Piccone against the Department of Early Education and Childcare (EEC) a sister agency of DSS. The family charges that the named authorities are acting in concert to punish the family for asserting their civil rights and challenging the transparency of DSS procedures in the DSS investigation of the retaliatory charges by DSS against attorney Piccone.
Mr. Piccone is an attorney and graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and his wife, Elena Piccone is Russian and the daughter of a Russian diplomat. Attorney Piccone is currently imprisoned on charges of civil contempt at the Berkshire County Department of Corrections and is being held in solitary confinement for his own protection from the general prison population. Judges Paul Perachi and Charles S. Belsky of Berkshire County Juvenile Court are holding attorney Piccone on civil contempt charges despite clear demonstration of his inability to cure the contempt which is sufficient to effect dismissal of the contempt charges.
The Piccone family asserts that charges of child abuse by DSS were filed in retaliation for his lawsuit against their sister agency, EEC and DSS has stated in court proceedings that they have no evidence to support their original charges of child abuse against attorney Piccone. The family charges that DSS, the Dalton Police, the Juvenile Court and the District Attorney have committed professional misconduct, denial of due process and manipulation of law enforcement agencies in three states. The family has requested federal monitors to oversee the Berkshire authorities citing the following abuses:
• Unlawfully keep Louis incarcerated
• Conduct and attempt warrantless searches of private homes in three states – Massachusetts, New York and New Jersey
• Conduct warrantless seizures of private property
• Interrogate minors without counsel or parents present
• Harass family members
• Lie and omit exculpatory evidence from court filings, affidavits and official documents including the filings which resulted in custody of the children being granted to DSS
• Manipulate the law enforcement agencies of other states and the National Crime Database
For more information about this matter, see the attached letters to Attorney General Mukasey and visit http://www.BerkshireHorror.com.
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