[StBernard] 60-pound teen removed from St. Bernard home

[Westley Annis]

60-pound teen removed from St. Bernard home

St. Bernard authorities have arrested a 30-year-old man, booking him with
cruelty to a juvenile after officials found his malnourished son living in
deplorable conditions. 

In a press release, sheriff's officials say the 14-year-old boy weighed just
60 pounds and hasn't been in school, or to a doctor, in 4 years. 

Police say they arrested the father, Daniel Ballard, after a St. Bernard
Parish constable who was serving an eviction notice to the father at his
recreational vehicle at a trailer-RV site in eastern St. Bernard noticed the
boy wasn't in school and had an untreated leg injury, a swollen, infected
right foot. 

Ward K Constable Tony Guerra said he called the Sheriff's Office and said
the boy was also living in a deplorable residence, as well as having the
injured foot and appearing malnourished.

"I could see inside the place and it was horrible," Guerra said. "I could
see he was limping," referring to the teen. 

Guerra said he had previously left an eviction notice at the RV and went
back to serve a "show cause" document on why the father shouldn't be held in
contempt for not leaving the site. 

"I asked the father why he (the son) wasn't in school and he said he was
home-schooling him," Guerra said "I knew that wasn't true."

Guerra said he "wouldn't have slept right" if he hadn't reported what he saw
to the Sheriff's Office.

Investigators say the father said the boy was injured when a speaker fell on
his leg while they were moving equipment but the father said the boy didn't
want to go to a doctor, Pohlmann said.

Police say the boy hadn't been in school or to a doctor in the more than
four years since the father has had him in the New Orleans area. 

Cannizaro said the boy also injured an arm months ago and the father didn't
have him medically checked out then either.

According to investigators, Ballard, now being held in St. Bernard Parish
Prison in lieu of bond set at $25,000, had been living in St. Bernard for
apparently slightly over a month after living in various other parishes. 

If convicted of cruelty of a juvenile, he could face up to 10 years in
prison.

Detectives said Ballard couldn't answer basic questions, such as when the
boy had last attended school and if there was a copy of his birth
certificate. 

"Instinctively, the detectives knew something was wrong, something was amiss
there," said Col. John Doran, chief of detectives at the Sheriff's Office. 

Officials say the boy is being treated for the foot and arm injuries. The
Sheriff's Office did not disclose the boy's location, but said officials
with the state Department of Social Services are involved. 

Police say that in the summer of 2005, the mother, whose name was not
released, put the boy on a plane to New Orleans to be with Ballard. 

Since then, Pohlmann said, the mother has tried on and off to locate the boy
but has been unable to track him down.