Boy’s parents face abuse charges

By Jack Moran

The adoptive parents of a 9-year-old Blachly boy hospitalized in March after suffering severe burns, broken bones and other injuries were both charged Tuesday with assaulting and mistreating the boy.

Blachly residents Alona Lee Hartwig, 46, and her husband, Rodger Eugene Hartwig Jr., 51, adopted the boy they allegedly abused after taking him in as a foster child more than four years ago, Lane County sheriff’s Lt. Byron Trapp said.

Sheriff’s detectives launched an investigation focusing on the Hartwigs on March 27, after medical staff at a local hospital notified Department of Human Services officials of the boy’s “concerning and suspicious injuries,” Trapp said.

Initially hospitalized in critical condition, the boy spent more than one month at Doernbecher Children’s Hospital in Portland with injuries that included third-degree burns to a foot, as well as fractured ribs, vertebrae, fingers and pelvis, Trapp said.

“These were dramatic injuries,” Trapp said.

The boy has been released from the hospital and now lives with a new foster family.

Upon learning of the abuse allegations against the Hartwigs in March, state Department of Human Services officials removed three other adopted children from the Hartwigs’ home on Horton Road, along with two of the couple’s biological children, Trapp said.

All six of the children taken from the home and placed with foster families are between the ages of 9 and about 13, Trapp said.

The case has shaken state child welfare officials who recently investigated another tragedy in Lane County — the death of Eugene teen Jeanette Maples, who allegedly suffered fatal abuse last December at the hands of her mother and stepfather.

Now, DHS officials have begun their own probe into the Hartwig case to determine if state officials responded properly to the suspected child abuse; if child welfare workers who dealt with the family followed department policies; and if the case indicates any problems specific to state child welfare services in the department’s Lane County offices.

“The injury to this child is of serious concern to us, and we are taking immediate action … to determine what happened and put corrective actions in place,” DHS spokesman Gene Evans said.

Sheriff’s detectives arrested the Hartwigs on Friday evening at a family member’s home in west Eugene. They are being held in the Lane County Jail as the criminal investigation continues.

Alona Hartwig faces one count of first-degree assault, two counts of second-degree assault and five counts of first-degree criminal mistreatment for alleged abuse of her 9-year-old adopted son.

Court documents allege that she used a “dangerous or deadly weapon” to assault the boy on two separate occasions between January 2008 and earlier this year.

Her husband — a former Blachly School District board member who previously worked for Rosboro Lumber Co. in Springfield — faces less serious felony charges that include one count of second-degree assault and two counts of first-degree criminal mistreatment.

The couple allegedly withheld “necessary and adequate food, physical care or medical attention” from the boy, according to the charges.

Evans, the DHS spokesman, said officials are relieved to know that the Hartwigs’ adopted son is out of the hospital and recovering from his injuries.

“We’re grateful that he’s doing well,” Evans said. “He’s safe with a foster family.”

But Evans said it’s troubling that the allegations against the Hartwigs would surface so soon after the Maples case.

“When we’ve just completed our work with the tragedy with Jeanette, and then to have this happen in the same area, it’s really of serious concern to us,” Evans said.

DHS officials acknowledged earlier this year that child welfare workers improperly disregarded previous reports that Jeanette — who was 15 when she died — was being abused in her home.

Several department employees were reprimanded for their involvement in the reports concerning Jeanette’s abuse, and state officials have outlined a series of changes to policies and practices that will be implemented as a direct result of her death.

While the DHS internal investigation into Jeanette’s case is required under state law because of the previous abuse reports, the probe now being undertaken in response to the allegations against the Hartwigs is not mandatory because it does not involve a child who was the subject of an abuse complaint during the past year.

Evans would not say if state officials ever received an abuse report concerning the Hartwigs’ adopted son, but that will be revealed when the department publicly releases a report detailing its investigation, possibly later this month.

The Hartwigs were a state-certified foster family until they adopted the boy and three other children, two of whom are the 9-year-old boy’s biological siblings. State officials endorsed the adoptions, Evans said.

State child welfare workers visit foster children every 30 days, but do not check on those youngsters after they’ve been adopted, Evans said.

“Once a child is adopted, they’re treated as (a family’s) biological children,” Evans said.

During a 2005 interview with The Register-Guard, Alona Hartwig spoke of the joy she said she felt working with foster children.

“It’s surprising how easy it is to love these kids and the blessing they add to your family,” she said.