Will Christopher Ambrose Become Connecticut DCF Commissioner Vanessa Dorantes' Jerry Sandusky?
Parallels of Institutional Neglect? Paterno and Sandusky Compared to DCF’s Dorantes and Peterson
NOTE: This is a version of an article first published in Frank Report’s continuing coverage of Child Molester and Psychopath Christopher Ambrose of Madison, Connecticut.
By Richard Luthmann
In the camarilla of institutional power, Commissioner Vanessa Dorantes of Connecticut's Department of Children and Families (DCF) made a stand against Eliezer Rijos, now a former employee who sent inappropriate texts - more than sexually suggestive - to a minor he was supervising.
Her words were crisp, clear, no-nonsense. “Egregious and reprehensible,” she had declared. “No child or youth should be subjected to or victimized by this type of behavior.”
Yet, in the same breath, silence hangs heavily over serious and “disregarded” allegations against Christopher Ambrose, a Hollywood ghost - a plagiarist bearing the taint of past wrongs that ran him out of Tinseltown, with those transgressions paling in comparison to presently credible claims of sexual abuse of his children.
Allegations of sexual penetration by wealthy Chris Ambrose, white as an Albino, by his adopted brown-skinned teen, were ignored by Michelle Peterson, a DCF Supervisor, a Dorantes lieutenant.
A whisper from Pennsylvania stirred memories of another towering figure: Joe Paterno. Like a fallen colossus, “Joe-Pa” had come to symbolize the perils of turning a blind eye. He knew, and yet, did he really understand the gravity?
A revered figure who many proclaimed represented integrity in college football, Paterno was fired amid allegations that he didn't properly report concerns about his long-time lieutenant, Penn State Assistant Football Coach Jerry Sandusky, to authorities. These concerns spanned back to the 1970s.
Sandusky was sentenced to 30 to 60 years in prison in October 2012 for abusing ten boys he met through Second Mile, a non-profit charity he founded serving Pennsylvania's underprivileged and at-risk youth.
Paterno's role in Sandusky's crimes involved his handling of an incident witnessed by former Penn State quarterback and graduate assistant coach Mike McQueary.
McQueary first told state investigators in 2010 that he went to the locker room inside the Lasch Football Building on Penn State's campus after hours in 2001 and heard what sounded like sexual sounds coming from the shower. He looked in and saw a naked boy, around ten years old, being raped by Jerry Sandusky. He also told investigators that he brought the shower incident to Paterno's attention the next day. Paterno notified then-athletic director Tim Curley but did not call the police.
Once the gravity of the situation became public in November 2011, Paterno, the winningest coach in major college football history, was abruptly fired.
In addition to Sandusky's conviction and imprisonment for thirty to sixty years, three high-ranking Penn State administrators, including Curley and the then-university president, received jail time.
The parallels between the late Coach Paterno and DCF Commissioner Dorantes are strong. Both prided themselves on hard work. Both presented a clear institutional vision. Both were given positions of extreme visibility and crucial responsibility.
Paterno was born in Brooklyn, New York, and attended Brown University, where he played as the quarterback and a cornerback in football’s “ironman” era. He set aside plans to attend law school and was hired as an assistant football coach at Penn State in 1950.
By 1966, Paterno was named head coach and guided the team for forty-five seasons, winning two national championships and coaching five undefeated teams. In 2007, while still on the sidelines, he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach.
The Dorantes story is also one of hard work and grit. A licensed Master Social Worker, she has worked for the State of Connecticut’s DCF since 1992. She earned her Master’s in Social Work from the UCONN School of Social Work, where she majored in Casework and Community Organization. Within DCF, Dorantes has held just about every position in the Social Work job class series. In 2014, she was appointed as a Regional Administrator.
In January 2019, Dorantes accepted Governor Ned Lamont’s nomination and was confirmed as Connecticut’s first African American DCF Commissioner, where she oversees the Department’s 3,200 staff members. She co-chairs the Health & Safety subcommittee for the Governor’s Council on Women & Girls.
Now, Dorantes stands on the edge of a precipice, not unlike the legendary football coach. Ambrose’s specter looms large, casting a shadow that threatens to swallow her whole. Has her DCF administration turned a blind eye to Mia Ambrose’s “multiple” allegations of sexual abuse and penetration perpetrated by her adoptive father, Ambrose, and corroborated by several medical, clinical, investigative, and law enforcement sources?
The question isn’t just about what she knew or when. It's about the weight of choices and the silence that sometimes speaks louder than words.
“Our administration is built upon the public trust and will not tolerate any conduct resulting in a violation of that trust,” Commissioner Dorantes swiftly said in the Rijos matter. Her silence in the Ambrose matter is deafening - and marks culpability.
Paterno was a frail and fading national treasure when the scope of Sandusky’s crimes was realized, investigated, and processed. He avoided jail time because there was a better chance for a jury to convict Santa Claus than Joe Paterno in central Pennsylvania. The full weight of criminal negligence fell upon Paterno’s supervisors.
“In hindsight, I wish I had done more,” he had confessed. But hindsight is a luxury not afforded to the living, and Dorantes and her lieutenants now face the same crossroads.
Is Christopher Ambrose a monster? Has he sexually abused his three adopted children and potentially countless other vulnerable teenagers when he was the director of a Bronx, New York, program for at-risk youth? Like Sandusky, Ambrose was abruptly exited from a youth charity. The public has a right to know that DCF is doing its job. And the children have a right to an abuse-free life. Why hasn’t DCF investigated serious, substantiated, and corroborated sexual penetration allegations?
It’s time for Connecticut DCF Commissioner Dorantes to start asking the hard questions about Christopher Ambrose. Unlike Joe Paterno, she has to have the fortitude to call the police and throw the weight of her position, coming directly from an appointment by Governor Ned Lamont.
Commissioner Dorantes already came down “gangbusters” on Elizier Rijos, deploying the full force of the Connecticut Law Enforcement apparatus to declare “No Child” was abused. Don’t the Ambrose teenagers deserve the same commitment from DCF?
Any further silence means we all should start asking the hard questions about her. Ask the Paterno family. Her life, DCF, and Connecticut institutions will never be the same.
There is still time to help the Ambrose Children:
A GoFundMe page has been established to help Karen Riordan, a special education teacher, and her three children, Mia, Matthew, and Sawyer, reunite and achieve justice in her unequal fight against her well-funded ex-husband and total psychopath, Christopher Ambrose. If it is within your means, please help this family.
DONATE HERE
Karen Riordan has complete discretion over the use of these funds, which will be used to:
Support the family in covering financial needs like food, clothing, and back-to-school. Ambrose hasn’t paid for his kids since April.
Hire an experienced Connecticut family law firm to present a compelling case in court.
Engage qualified experts to evaluate the children’s well-being and provide unbiased assessments.
Highlight the evidence of abuse and its profound impact on the children’s mental and emotional health.
Advocate for the children’s voices to be heard and considered in court proceedings.
Promote regional and national awareness of this case so that abusers are not empowered by twisting Jennifer’s Law and similar legislation to protect domestic violence victims.
Regardless of size, every donation will significantly impact this family’s future. Your support can help reunite Mia, Matthew, and Sawyer with their mother, allowing them to heal and rebuild their lives.
Richard Luthmann is a writer, commentator, satirist, and investigative journalist with degrees from Columbia University and the University of Miami. A transplanted New Yorker, Luthmann is a member of the National Writers Union now living in Southwest Florida.
Check him out on Muck Rack.
“I am a journalist who writes about justice, the courts, government officials, prisons, and reform. You find some questionable players in all these places and often outright crooks. Exposing these bottom feeders from the outside is sometimes the only way to make them pay the price for their injustice and misdeeds.”
“I often use satire and opinion to make my point. I have already been told to ‘stop writing about the Government’ by the U.S. Government, so I must be doing something right.”
“If you’re a victim of the system, maybe the press is the right forum for you. If you have experienced injustice and are tired of dropping tens of thousands of dollars without results, maybe it’s time to try the digital pen.”
Contact Richard Luthmann at 239-631-5957 or richard.luthmann@protonmail.com.
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