FL man pleads guilty to tricking pregnant ex-girlfriend into taking pill, causing miscarriage

[The Straight Story]

FL man pleads guilty to tricking pregnant ex-girlfriend into taking pill, causing miscarriage. Faces 15yrs prison

TAMPA, Fla. (KABC) -- A Florida man has pleaded guilty to tricking his pregnant ex-girlfriend into taking an abortion pill that caused her to have a miscarriage.

Remee Jo Lee says John Andrew Welden begged her not to have a baby after she became pregnant.

Lee, her attorneys and federal prosecutors say Welden forged a signature of his father, who is an obstetrician, on a prescription for Cytotec and relabeled a pill bottle as "amoxicillin." Cytotec is used to induce labor.

Welden then told Lee that his father said she had a bacterial infection and needed to take the mislabeled amoxicillin.

Lee, who was about six or seven weeks pregnant, experienced severe cramps and pain and went to the hospital. She miscarried shortly thereafter.

"Nothing is ever going to bring back what was taken from her, no matter what the result, whether this had gone to trial or not," said Todd Foster, a defense attorney in the case.

http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/national_world&id=9243044

[In_The_Wind]

1. Only 15 years for murder ... yeah.

[JimDandy]

2. He's NOT charged with murder

because it's not murder, although it is heartbreaking.

He's charged with mail fraud and tampering with a consumer product.

Legally a six week-old fetus is still not considered a person, otherwise abortions then would be illegal.

[In_The_Wind]

3. Oh, my mistake.

[JimDandy]

4. No problem. So very sick what he did.

I hope he gets the absolute max.

[joeglow3]

5. Which shouldn't be much

Those are not "terrible" crimes.

[JimDandy]

7. 15 years is the max and he deserves that.

The tampering involved fraud, lying and making someone physically sick for the immoral purpose of illegally inducing abortion.

To me it is worse than the Tylenol tampering and cases in which prison/mental hospital doctors induced abortions in patients without their consent, because he personally benefited from his illegal actions and in a very sick way.

[REP]

8. The Tylenol tampering killed seven people

I think that was actually worse; cyanide poisoning is a very painful death. This is not to minimize the dangers of playing doctor and giving power medicine to a person who doesn't need or want it and not knowing if it is even safe for her to take, or the chickenshit betrayal - everything he did to her was repellent and vile, and I hope he does every day of those 15 years for what he did to her. But it is not the same as killing 7 strangers at random in a horrible way and terrifying a nation.

[JimDandy]

9. I understand and mostly agree

because as you said the Tylenol tampering resulted in many deaths and terrorized everyone, but this still seems more heinous because his tampering was targeted at not a stranger, but someone who trusted and loved him and loved the potential life he snuffed out simply for financial reasons. Not very logical of me, I know.

[Nye Bevan]

15. Intentionally inducing an unwanted miscarriage is "not terrible"?

[joeglow3]

17. The crimes he "committed" were not terrible

He made someone sick. He did not kill or rape someone. He gave them a drug without them knowing and they got sick. A crime? Yes. Should he do time? Sure. Is it worse than crimes like murder and rape where people do much less than 15 years? Hell no.

[In_The_Wind]

6. The sad part is ... she trusted and loved him

[img][/img]
before he killed their child

[2ndAmForComputers]

12. You insist on using anti-choice terms.

Row vs. Wade is the law of the land. Do you like that fact?

[In_The_Wind]

16. She didn't make the choice. She should have the right not have it taken from her.

[2ndAmForComputers]

13. Didn't look like a mistake to me.

Especially in light of your other post. (#6)

[lakercub]

11. He assaulted her

and deserves everything he gets for that.

However, I find this story weird. Specifically, who takes an antibiotic for an infection when they were never told by a doctor that there was an infection. Seriously, I love my wife but if she came home and told me I have an infection and need to take pills she had handy I'm pretty sure some flags would go up. It's possible she is monstrously naive (or just remarkably stupid) but the idea of finding out one has a medical condition that requires medication from anyone but a health professional seems pretty tough to swallow. Even if the guys father is the doctor, it's hard to believe she would just take medication without hearing from the doctor himself.

It's possible the story is 100 percent true as written, but if it is, then she's a complete idiot. Which doesn't change the fact that the boyfriend is loathsome and committed assault.

[Nye Bevan]

14. I hope he gets the max. Despite some of the posts here, this *was* a terrible crime.

And it is possible to believe this while still being pro-choice.

[joeglow3]

18. Meanwhile, murderers and rapists get a fraction of the time