Tuesday, March 11, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.
She's lost her job and been accused of exploiting her child, yet Barbara Anderson remains relentless in a crusade to exonerate her son from a felony charge for writing in concrete and force law enforcement to re-examine how they handle children.
Jeremy Anderson's arrest Jan. 28 was "carried out as if this 9-year-old boy was some sort of international assassin," his mother said.
Further, Anderson, 34, said her son has been so traumatized by the legal proceedings that "he stopped eating and started sleeping all the time."
The most therapeutic event for her son so far, Anderson said, was the opportunity to tell his story last week on multiple television and radio talk shows about writing names, including his own, across 343 feet of sidewalk.
Anderson denied receiving any money for her appearances, and added that she will only consent to "interviews by responsible journalists." She said she is considering a request from "The Montel Williams Show" because it doesn't pay their guests, but has turned down offers by "Sally Jesse Raphael," "Jenny Jones" and "The Maury Povich Show."
Key issues raised in interviews on "Geraldo Live" and "Good Morning America" were the reality that children as young as 8 can be arrested in Nevada, and that boys and girls booked into Juvenile Hall are required to undergo strip searches to weed out drugs and weapons.
"My son has done nothing wrong," Anderson said. "The question is not how much he wrote. The question is how he was treated."
Metro Police have defended the actions of Detective Frank Janise, who handled both the investigation and ultimate arrest inside an assistant principal's office at McMillan Elementary.
It was the same office where Janise interviewed the boy in the presence of the assistant principal on Dec. 9 regarding the sidewalk in the 8400 block of Washington Avenue, which was damaged about 3:30 p.m. Nov. 19.
Jeremy was escorted from class to the office by a staff member the day of his arrest to protect his privacy, was never handcuffed and walked away from school to a parked, unmarked car with Janise only after all children on the playground were quietly returned to class, school officials and police said.
"The detective acted reasonable, he is very in-tune and sensitive with young people, and he tried to walk Jeremy through the whole incident so as not to embarrass or scare him," said Capt. Charles Davidaitis. "The burden revolves around reasonableness."
Specifically, Barbara Anderson's reasonableness, he said.
After interviewing Jeremy Dec. 9, Janise went to the boy's home to contact the mom regarding the criminal investigation and left a card on the door requesting her to call regarding urgent police business, Davidaitis said.
Anderson left a message on the investigator's recorder three days later that she would recall, but police did not hear from her again until two days after her son's arrest.
"You would think that 34 days (excluding weekends and holidays) would have been a reasonable period of time for Mrs. Anderson to have called back," Davidaitis said. "That strikes me as odd, being a parent myself."
Plaster Development estimates it will cost $7,100 to tear out and replace the sidewalk to meet city codes. The maximum penalty in Nevada for a felony of defacing property in excess of $5,000 is six years' imprisonment and a $5,000 fine.
Jeremy awaits a preliminary hearing April 21 to determine if the case will go to trial.
Anderson insists that school officials and police failed to notify her of her son's arrest.
"Her home phone was forwarded to her pager," said her attorney, Robert Kossack. "Although she did receive various calls to her pager, and her pager gives the option of leaving a voice message, no pages or voice messages were received from the school, police or Juvenile Hall informing Barbara of Jeremy's arrest on the day in question."
Police and school officials said that numerous attempts were made, both before Jeremy left the school grounds and while he was at Juvenile Hall. They said messages were left on a home answering machine, but that Anderson no longer worked at the restaurant number she provided to the school.
"I don't know if the school district is responsible for canvassing the entire valley for Mrs. Anderson," Davidaitis said. He added that a school official was present at all times while Jeremy spoke with and was arrested by police.
Anderson said she was fired from her job last Friday while in New York for talk shows.
"He said he wants to hire someone who doesn't have children," Anderson said of her former boss at Wow Software on Reno Avenue, where she said she worked 40 hours a week since September.
A critical element in Jeremy's alibi is that a worker employed by Plaster Development gave him permission to write in the cement. This mystery man is still unidentified.
archive
