Atmore woman charged with child abuse
By DON FLETCHER
News Staff Writer
No details were available, but the Escambia County Detention Center website shows that a local woman was arrested December 2 by Escambia County Sheriff’s Office (ECSO) deputies and charged with abusing a child.
Jail records include that 56-year-old Belinda Caraway Boyington was processed into the county jail on one count of child abuse.
Under Alabama law, child abuse — a Class C felony — most regularly occurs when the health or welfare of a person under the age of 18 is harmed or threatened with harm. Such a harm or threat can occur through “nonaccidental physical or mental injury, sexual abuse or attempted sexual abuse, or sexual exploitation or attempted sexual exploitation.”
Boyington was released on bond December 4. Jail officials did not reply to a request for the amount of bond under which she was released.
*An Atmore woman who was an officer at G.K. Fountain Correctional Facility, was arrested December 4 on an ethics violation in connection to an investigation into the possession of a cell phone by an inmate of the state prison.
Details are unavailable, but reports are that Alabama Department of Corrections investigators took Halle Verena Lambert, 26, of Atmore into custody. She is charged with one count each of using her official position or office for personal gain, promoting prison contraband and being an inmate in possession of a cell phone.
Lambert remained in the county jail at mid-morning Monday, December 11.
*Sheriff’s deputies took Rakeem Dewayne Phillips, 31, of Atmore into custody December 2 on a felony criminal mischief charge.
Phillips is charged with one count of first-degree criminal mischief, a Class C felony that occurs when a person “with intent to damage property, and having no right to do so or any reasonable ground to believe that he or she has such a right …inflicts damage to the property in an amount exceeding $2,500.”
The Atmore man remained in the ECDC at mid-morning Monday, December 11.