Couple is jailed without bail for lateness to court; Were to be sentenced for child neglect

Record, The (Hackensack, NJ)

Author: By KIBRET MARKOS, STAFF WRITER

A judge Friday ordered a couple jailed without bail after they came to court two hours late for sentencing on convictions of locking their two adopted children in a filthy Montvale home.

Michael and Maureen Culhane, who had been free on bail since their convictions in January, said they were dropping off a ladder in Teaneck on their way to court when their van broke down.

By the time they fixed the van, parked it in a lot outside a Hackensack department store, and walked to the courthouse, they said, they were late.

They said they couldn't call their lawyers because they didn't have cellphones, and had cancelled their home phone because they anticipated going to prison Friday.

Superior Court Judge Donald Venezia wasn't buying their story, however.

"I am not satisfied with your explanation," said Venezia, who had issued warrants for their arrest when they hadn't shown up.

Venezia rescheduled the sentencing for Tuesday and ordered the Culhanes held at the Bergen County Jail until then. Both face up to 10 years in prison.

Frank Lucianna, the lawyer for Michael Culhane, protested Venezia's decision.

"These people have been here every day during the trial," he said. "They are late, but they are faithful."

The Culhanes were convicted of second-degree child endangerment after witnesses testified that the couple locked their two adopted children, ages 3 and 5, in a bedroom on Oct. 18, 2002.

One of the witnesses was Montvale's building code official, Raymond Dressler. He told jurors that he went to the couple's West Grand Avenue home to conduct building code inspections and waited for four hours outside the home until the Culhanes returned.

When the Culhanes finally got home, he said, he and a police officer entered and searched the house, where they found the children locked in a second-floor bedroom reeking of urine. Both children were eating cereal with coffee creamers, Dressler said.

Dressler said the rest of the house was a mess, too: Furniture was blocking hallways, clothes were piled up on kitchen counters, bathtubs were filled with dirty water, and toilets were left unflushed.

Officials declared the house uninhabitable the same day and placed the two children in the custody of the state Division of Youth and Family Services.

Both Lucianna and fellow defense lawyer Mark Musella argued during the trial that being poor housekeepers didn't make the Culhanes guilty of second-degree child endangerment.

Maureen Culhane also testified that she never locked the children in the bedroom.

The conviction in January was not the first for the Culhanes. The couple was found guilty of neglecting an 87-year-old woman in a Pearl River, N.Y., boarding house in 2000. Michael Culhane served six months for that conviction, and his wife was placed under community supervision. Both are still on probation for that offense.