"John" HARTWIG - 9 yo - Lane County (E of Eugene) OR

A Lane County couple was arrested after their 9-year-old son spent a
month in Doernbecher Children's Hospital for multiple fractures and an
untreated burn that physicians said were the result of abuse.

Rodger Hartwig, 51, and Alona Hartwig, 46, are being held in Lane County Jail
on charges of assault and criminal mistreatment.



The Hartwigs were the
boy's foster parents before they adopted him and two siblings five years ago.

This was the second instance of critical child abuse in
Lane County where parents were charged in the past six months, said Gene
Evans, a Department of Human Services spokesman. "We're very concerned
about that," he said.

The other case was the death of 15-year-old
Jeanette Maples in December. Her mother and stepfather, Angela
McAnulty and Richard McAnulty have been charged with aggravated murder.
Both have pleaded not guilty.

Cases of child abuse that result
in a major injury or death are "very few and infrequent," said Lane
County sheriff's Lt. Byron Trapp.

The Department of Human Services' Critical Incident Response Team will evaluate the Hartwigs'
case. The team reviews serious injuries and deaths of children who have
had some association with the state's child welfare system. The analysis
will be completed in a couple of weeks, Evans said.

The Hartwigs have six children, four of whom are adopted. The children
are between 9 and 13 years old.

All of the children were placed
in foster care on March 27, after physicians identified the boy's
injuries as suspicious. He had multiple rib, vertebrae and finger
fractures, at least one pelvic fracture and an untreated burn, Trapp
said. Police spent the next month investigating the case before they
arrested the couple, Trapp said.

The Department of Human
Services has started a probe into the Lane County child welfare system
to look for holes, Evans said. They will be investigating staff
practices and looking for areas where problems could be overlooked,
Evans said.

"We need to actively investigate our actions to
ensure we did everything quickly, appropriately," he said.

With foster families, Evans said, "you kind of have to shoot for a hundred percent."

A 9-year-old boy hospitalized for more
than a month with burns and other severe injuries allegedly inflicted
by his adoptive parents told police he was beaten, thrown into a creek,
fed formula to keep off weight and often made to sleep without a blanket
on a porch at the family’s Blachly home, a court document states.

Alona and Rodger Hartwig’s adopted son
reluctantly told investigators during interviews on May 14 and May 20
that his mother was responsible for most of the alleged abuse that led
to the couple’s arrest on felony assault and criminal mistreatment
charges last Friday, according to a probable cause affidavit filed by
Lane County sheriff’s Detective Carl Wilkerson.

The boy “said he did not want to talk about Alona and Rodger,” the document states.

He said “Alona and Rodger are bad, and
Rodger is bad because he is on Alona’s side, and not on the kid’s side.”

The boy said his adoptive mother hit him
and threw him in a creek “a lot because he would get in trouble. (He)
said it was cold out when he was thrown in the creek. (He) also said
Alona hit him with a spatula (and) fed him ‘barely,’ ” Wilkerson wrote.

The boy “was fed formula because he was
‘fat’ and Alona wanted ‘to get the weight off.’ (He) said he was thrown
in the creek (and) in a seven-foot hole when he did not eat. (The boy)
said he ‘hates’ Alona,’ ” the affidavit states.

The boy said his mother pushed him down
several times, and would yank him out of the family’s Chevy Suburban by
his arm “a lot” and “he would fall to the ground and cry,” according to the affidavit.

Also, the boy “said he was required to
sleep on the porch floor because he wet the bed. (The boy) explained he
only got a blanket when he was good and earned a blanket, and he only
had a blanket on one occasion,” Wilkerson wrote.

Burn cause a mystery

The boy told investigators that he did not
remember how he suffered a third-degree burn on the top of his left foot
that burned through his skin tissue and reached his muscle tissue,
according to the affidavit.

While Alona Hartwig told detectives that
the boy burned his foot in a bathtub at the family’s Horton Road home, a
doctor who treated the youngster at Doernbecher Children’s Hospital in
Portland determined that could not have been the case, Wilkerson’s affidavit states.

The doctor told investigators that the
injury “was a contact burn caused by a hot object being pressed against
(the boy’s) skin and not from a liquid,” according to the affidavit.

“Alona Hartwig said she did not know
anything about the burn other than he (burned) it in the bathtub,” Wilkerson wrote.

The boy had a severe case of sepsis because the burn was left untreated, the affidavit states.

The doctor found a second burn on the boy’s
chest and back, injuries “consistent with loop marks or belt marks,” according to the document.

Several broken bones

Wilkerson wrote that the Portland doctor
said the boy “had previous fractures to three of his fingers, three of
his vertebrae, fractures to 20 ribs and fractures to his pelvic bone.”

The doctor told investigators that the
boy’s broken pelvis was consistent with an injury suffered by someone
“involved in a 40-mph car crash or from falling from a third-story
window,” the document states.

Alona Hartwig said she had no idea how her son sustained those injuries, Wilkerson wrote.

Rodger Hartwig, meanwhile, told sheriff’s
investigators that he spanked and hit the 9-year-old boy with a wooden
spoon but “does not spank with his hands because hands ‘are for
loving,’ ” Wilkerson’s affidavit states.

As for the boy’s foot burn, “Rodger Hartwig
said he blamed himself for not taking (his adopted son) to the doctor
sooner” but that he had been treating the burn with hydrogen peroxide,
an antiseptic and an over-the-counter ointment, Wilkerson’s affidavit states.

“When asked who he thought may have caused
the injuries to (the boy), Rodger said he did not want to think Alona
would have caused the injuries but said she is alone with (the boy) most
of the time,” Wilkerson wrote.

Couple remains jailed

The affidavit also includes summaries of interviews with the Hartwigs’ other children.

Six youngsters between the ages of 9 and 13
lived with Alona and Rodger Hartwig. Two of them are the couple’s
biological children while the other four, including the injured boy,
were adopted. All four of the adopted children initially came to the
Hartwigs’ home as foster children, officials said.

All six children are now living with new
foster families as the Hartwigs await the conclusion of their criminal cases.

The children told investigators that while
their parents disciplined them to varying degrees, their 9-year-old
brother typically bore the brunt of the punishment, according to the affidavit.

The boy’s sister told investigators that
“Alona and Rodger treated (her brother) differently than the other kids
and said they were meaner to (him).”

The girl said Rodger Hartwig threw her
9-year-old brother into the creek for lying, and that their adoptive
mother “would push (the boy) down, backward, after yelling at him. (The
girl) said (her brother) was normal when they first moved in with the
Hartwigs, but the Hartwigs have said (the boy) has been bad since he moved in.”

The Hartwigs took the boy to Sacred Heart
Medical Center at RiverBend in Springfield on March 26 to seek treatment
for injuries that medical staff found suspicious.

Sheriff’s detectives and state Department
of Human Services officials began investigating the case as soon as they
learned of it. The aim of the state probe is to determine if child
welfare officials responded properly to the suspected abuse; if workers
who previously dealt with the family followed department policies; and
if the case indicates any problems specific to state child welfare
services in Lane County.

Alona and Rodger Hartwig are being held in the Lane County Jail.

There are new and disturbing details about the
alleged abuse a 9-year-old Lane County boy suffered at the hands of his
adoptive parents.

That child's parents are facing multiple charges of assault and
criminal mistreatment. Court documents paint a picture of what the young
boy allegedly went through. In an affidavit, the victim describes how his own parents reportedly abused him.

"A lot of cop cars and official vehicles right outside her house,"
said neighbor David Macias.

Neighbors of Alona and Rodger Hartwig are just beginning to put the
disturbing pieces together. The Hartwigs were arrested at their Blachly
home in late March and accused of abusing their 9-year old son to the
point of hospitalization.

"Always struck me as someone as didn't like to be around alone, even
as a kid," said Macias.

Alona Hartwig looked after Macias when he was a kid.

"She was a big well built intimidating, blonde haired blue eyed, but
intimidating. She runs the show," he said.

In court documents, the victim describes the alleged abuse to
investigators. "Alona and Rodger are bad, and Rodger is bad because he
is on Alona's side," they said.

Injuries included a serious burn, multiple fractures to ribs,
vertebrae, fingers and pelvic bones. Doctors determined those injuries
were a result of abuse.

Detectives write that the victim "was required to sleep on the porch
floor because he wet the bed and he only had a blanket on one occasion."

They write the boy described being fed baby formula because his
parents believed he was overweight and even "thrown in the creek in a
seven foot hole" when he did not eat.

The allegations are changing the way neighbors in Blachly will look
out for each other from now on.

"It travels fast, and people are always concerned. People care," said
neighbor Morgan Streeter.

After more than a month in the hospital, the 9-year old victim and
five other children who were living at the Hartwig home are now living
with foster families. Their parents remain in jail with plea hearing set
for next week.

The Blachly couple accused of abusing their
9-year-old adoptive son so severely that the boy was hospitalized
pleaded guilty in a Lane County courtroom.

Alona and Rodger Hartwig are now both headed off to prison. This was a
case that so many people found disturbing. The victim's father will
spend 70 months in jail, and his mother will spend 130 months behind
bars.

Alona Hartwig, 46, was sentenced first, pleading guilty to one count
of first-degree assault and three counts of criminal mistreatment. All
of the sentences will run concurrently, meaning she will spend the next
10 years and 10 months in jail.

Rodger Hartwig, 51, pleaded guilty to a single count of second-degree
assault, Carrying a jail sentence of 5 years and 10 months.

All other charges the couple was facing were dismissed. Both Hartwigs
will be subject to a number of years of post-prison supervision as
well.

The Hartwigs were arrested at their Blachly home in late March. In
court documents, the 9-year-old victim described the abuse to
investigators. He said he was was often required to sleep outside on the
porch, even fed baby formula because his parents believed he was
overweight.

The boy also sustained a serious burn, multiple fractures to ribs,
vertebrae, fingers and pelvic bones. Doctors determined those injuries
were a result of abuse, which the Hartwigs denied any part of until
Wednesday.

The couple must also pay more than $81,000 in restitution in this
case. Meanwhile, the victim has since recovered and is living with a new
foster family as are five other children who were also living in the
Hartwig home at the time of the abuse.