Suzanne Pavkovic

Ana Rivera has lost count of how many times teachers locked away her son. It started in pre-K when he was shut inside the principal’s office after he would not calm down in class. It escalated in elementary school when the Passaic County boy, who was diagnosed with autism, was routinely dragged into a room the size of closet and locked inside. At age 6, his family said he came home with so many bruises from being roughly restrained by teachers that they took him to the emergency room.

NEWARK - The first witness for the defense in the bribery trial of U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez, the senator's son took the stand in his father's defense on Monday afternoon, telling jurors of his father's trips to the Dominican Republic as a sort of family gathering with his good friend Salomon Melgen. Menendez's son, Robert Menendez Jr., said he and his father traveled several times to the Dominican Republic to visit with Melgen and his family between 1999 and 2006.

NEWARK -- Taking the stand in U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez's federal corruption trial, a former pilot for Florida ophthalmologist Salomon Melgen said he clearly remembered the first time he met the New Jersey Democrat and his son at the airport in West Palm Beach. "I remember because it was the first time flying a United States senator and his son," Richard Ravido told prosecutor J.P. Cooney on Thursday.