Articles

High School Cheerleader, 18, Dies After Plastic Surgery

POSTED: 4:32 pm EDT March 24, 2008
UPDATED: 3:06 pm EDT March 25, 2008

BOCA RATON, Fla. -- A West Boca Raton High School senior died after complications during a breast augmentation surgery, WPBF News 25 reported.
Stephanie Kuleba, 18, died Saturday after having a bad reaction to anesthesia medication given to her during the surgery, friends told WPBF.
The family's attorney, Roberto Stanziale, told WPBF that the teen began having problems about one hour into the operation, which he said was meant to fix a breast deformity.

"She went in for the surgery at 8:05 in the morning, by 9:45, an hour and 40 minutes later, the paramedics had been called and she had been rushed to Delray Medical Center where, basically, 24 hours later, she died," Stanziale said.
Stanziale told WPBF that the medical examiner's office told the family that Kuleba died from malignant hyperthermia, a condition often triggered by certain anesthetics that can increase the individual's body temperature to dangerous levels, WPBF reported.
Usually an inherited disorder, malignant hyperthermia is a metabolic disorder of muscle that often goes unnoticed in everyday life, but can turn deadly if an individual suffering from the disorder is given a triggering anesthetic, according to the Malignant Hyperthermia Associations of the United States' Web site.
Most cases of malignant hyperthermia occur in children and adults younger than 30 and have been estimated to occur once in every 15,000 surgeries in children and less often in adults, according to the Web site of InteliHealth Inc., a subsidiary of health care benefits company Aetna Inc. · more info.
Friends told WPBF that Kuleba, an honor student and co-captain of her school's cheerleading squad, was expecting to attend the University of Florida next fall to begin studying to become a doctor.
"She was very outgoing. A lot of people know her. She's like, very interesting and fun-to-talk-to kind of girl," classmate Magdala Compere told WPBF. "It's still kind of shocking to, like, know that happened to a classmate."
About 400 friends and family members attended a candlelight vigil for the teen in front of the West Boca High School's student parking lot Sunday night.
A wake for friends and family will be held Tuesday at the Babione Funeral Home located at 10060 Calle Comercio, Boca Raton, from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Kuleba's funeral will be held Wednesday at 10 a.m. at St. Jude's Catholic Church located at 21689 Toledo Road in Boca Raton.





Teen driver sentenced to Training School
08:25 AM EDT on Thursday, March 27, 2008
By Edward Fitzpatrick

Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE — A Barrington teenager was sentenced yesterday to six months in the state Training School for driving while impaired, fleeing authorities at Colt State Park and then slamming into a wall, pinning a pedestrian beneath his car.

The 17-year-old Barrington High School student must perform 200 hours of community service, write a letter of apology to the victim and undergo alcohol counseling. Also, he cannot have a driver’s license until he’s 21, and was required to tell the police who provided him with the alcohol.

“You know, I really don’t understand,” Family Court Chief Judge Jeremiah S. Jeremiah Jr. said in sentencing the teen. “Here’s a child that stands before me who has great potential. It’s obvious he’s very intelligent, and he has a chance to be very successful in life. And I really don’t understand why the children in Barrington have such a problem.”

The Dec. 29 crash marked the latest in a string of incidents involving Barrington teenagers, alcohol and either injury or death. Also, Jeremiah said the Barrington police recently referred 12 other teens to his court on alcohol possession charges.

“I just can’t understand why that happens when these kids have such great possibilities and are so intelligent,” Jeremiah said. “Why they have to use alcohol — it’s unanswerable to me.”

As part of a plea agreement, the teen admitted to driving to endanger with serious bodily injury resulting, driving while impaired, eluding a police officer, destruction of state property, and possession of alcohol by a minor. Prosecutors dropped a charge of marijuana possession.

The teen, whose name has not been released publicly because of his age, stood before the judge and apologized to the victim, Timothy Rockwell, 51, of Bristol, who attended the hearing.

“I’d like to take this time to apologize to you, Mr. Rockwell, and your family for the pain and suffering I caused as a result of my actions on the 29th,” the teen said. “My actions that night were inexcusable, unwarranted, disrespectful and regrettable. I want to apologize for the physical pain I placed upon you and emotional strain that I placed on your family. Lastly, I would like to take this time to apologize to my family, my friends and the community of Barrington.”

Rockwell said, “I would like to emphasize to you and the court at large that I am in complete concurrence with the sentence and also that I fully accept your apology and I appreciate it.”

At another point in the hearing, Assistant Attorney General Jay Sullivan said, “There was one additional special condition that the court had requested of counsel relating to the alcohol, and that condition has been met. The defendant has given a statement to the Rhode Island state police about who provided the alcohol.”

And Rockwell said, “I’m very happy to hear the question of where the alcohol came from has been addressed because that was something I was also concerned about, and I’m relieved to hear that’s being addressed.”

The teen told the state police that another juvenile provided him with the alcohol, according to prosecutors, who declined to identify that juvenile because of his age.

At the conclusion of yesterday’s hearing, deputy sheriffs handcuffed the teen and led him out of the courtroom.

Prosecutors had filed a petition seeking to have the teen waived out of Family Court and into an adult court. But Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch decided to withdraw that petition after reviewing a background report prepared by probation officials and taking into consideration that Rockwell did not want the teen to be treated as an adult for criminal purposes, attorney general’s spokesman Michael J. Healey said.

“This kid has a lot of potential,” Healey said. “He acknowledged a serious mistake and seems to be well on his way to rehabilitating himself.”

Sullivan said, “We decided there was sufficient time for the Family Court to rehabilitate this defendant.” Last year, the legislature lowered Family Court jurisdiction from 21 to 19 years of age, and prosecutors say that as a result, they have sought to prosecute more teenagers as adults because Family Court now has less time to rehabilitate the teens.

Special Assistant Attorney General Michael J. McCarthy said if this case went to trial, prosecutors were prepared to prove the five charges lodged against the teen. The teen fled when a Department of Environmental Management officer approached his car at Colt State Park in Bristol on Dec. 29, when the park was closed, prosecutors have said. The teen then drove down Colt Road and crossed 300 feet of grass before crashing into a wall on Poppasquash Road, prosecutors have said.

Rockwell was walking home when the car came at him, he jumped to avoid it, and he ended up being pinned beneath the vehicle, suffering a punctured lung, prosecutors have said. The police found a cardboard container for a 30-pack of beer in the car, with five full cans of beer in the container, and test showed the teen had a blood alcohol content of .035 and .033, which is below the legal limit for driving while intoxicated but above the limit for driving while impaired as a juvenile, prosecutors have said.

The teen was represented by lawyers William V. Devine Jr. and Mark W. Dana.

“I think it’s a fair disposition,” Dana said after the sentencing. “It keeps my client’s future intact. It allows him to continue on with his life without lifelong ramifications. Having said that, he’s lost his liberty for six months, and that should be a clear warning that these types of offenses will not go without severe punishment. The kids in Barrington need to be aware that these types of underage drinking offenses are going to result in incarceration.”





Teen gang member charged in drug case
01:00 AM EST on Friday, November 24, 2006
By Linda Borg

Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE —A federal grand jury has charged an 18-year-old member of the Providence Street Boyz with trafficking in cocaine. The police seized a handgun when they arrested Junior Ry in August.

Ry was arraigned in U.S. District Court on Nov. 3 and pleaded not guilty before Magistrate Judge David L. Martin, who ordered him detained. Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Rose said Providence police arrested Ry on Aug. 5 when he was a passenger in a car that the police stopped on Cranston Street. The police seized about 17 pieces of crack cocaine from Ry, and seized a .380 caliber handgun from the floorboard. According to Rose, Ry bought the gun to defend himself against the Oriental Rascals gang.

Ry was charged with one count of possessing crack cocaine with intent to distribute. The maximum penalty is 20 years in prison plus a $1-million fine.