Sunday James Abek survived a lot in her short life. She trekked with her family from Sudan to Egypt as an infant, survived 11/2 years in a squalid refugee camp, and made it safely to Manchester, N.H. by the time she neared her third birthday. Then, on April 21, 2000, after just one month of American life, Abek fell into a coma and died two days later, becoming the first child to die of lead poisoning in the United States in 10 years. Doctors found a blood-lead count six times the level that would normally require a child to be hospitalized.
The culprit turned out to be the lead paint chips and dust in apartment 5 at 102 Bridge St. in Manchester, where the malnourished child had spent a month picking small holes in a bedroom wall to eat the plaster, and nibbling on the abundant chips on the outdoor porch. Yesterday, Abek's tragic story came one step closer to ending when, for the first time in New England history, the landlord who rented the apartment pleaded guilty to federal criminal charges in connection with the lead poisoning case. Although he was not blamed for the girl's death, he pleaded guilty to failing to tell Sunday's parents of the lead paint danger and then trying to cover up that failure.
The culprit turned out to be the lead paint chips and dust in apartment 5 at 102 Bridge St. in Manchester, where the malnourished child had spent a month picking small holes in a bedroom wall to eat the plaster, and nibbling on the abundant chips on the outdoor porch. Yesterday, Abek's tragic story came one step closer to ending when, for the first time in New England history, the landlord who rented the apartment pleaded guilty to federal criminal charges in connection with the lead poisoning case. Although he was not blamed for the girl's death, he pleaded guilty to failing to tell Sunday's parents of the lead paint danger and then trying to cover up that failure.
Sunday James Abek survived a lot in her short life. She trekked with her family from Sudan to Egypt as an infant, survived 11/2 years in a squalid refugee camp, and made it safely to Manchester, N.H. by the time she neared her third birthday. Then, on April 21, 2000, after just one month of American life, Abek fell into a coma and died two days later, becoming the first child to die of lead poisoning in the United States in 10 years. Doctors found a blood-lead count six times the level that would normally require a child to be hospitalized.
The culprit turned out to be the lead paint chips and dust in apartment 5 at 102 Bridge St. in Manchester, where the malnourished child had spent a month picking small holes in a bedroom wall to eat the plaster, and nibbling on the abundant chips on the outdoor porch. Yesterday, Abek's tragic story came one step closer to ending when, for the first time in New England history, the landlord who rented the apartment pleaded guilty to federal criminal charges in connection with the lead poisoning case. Although he was not blamed for the girl's death, he pleaded guilty to failing to tell Sunday's parents of the lead paint danger and then trying to cover up that failure.
The culprit turned out to be the lead paint chips and dust in apartment 5 at 102 Bridge St. in Manchester, where the malnourished child had spent a month picking small holes in a bedroom wall to eat the plaster, and nibbling on the abundant chips on the outdoor porch. Yesterday, Abek's tragic story came one step closer to ending when, for the first time in New England history, the landlord who rented the apartment pleaded guilty to federal criminal charges in connection with the lead poisoning case. Although he was not blamed for the girl's death, he pleaded guilty to failing to tell Sunday's parents of the lead paint danger and then trying to cover up that failure.
