PITTSTON TWP. — Pittston Township police charged the mother of a 2-year-old boy with neglect as the toddler was extremely malnourished and residing in a house described as “deplorable.”
Margaret Lynn Evanoski, 26, of Oak Street, was arraigned Wednesday by District Judge Alexandra Kokura Kravitz of Pittston on two counts each of aggravated assault, criminal conspiracy to commit aggravated assault, endangering the welfare of children, criminal conspiracy of endangering the welfare of children, and one count each of reckless endangerment and criminal conspiracy of reckless endangerment. Evanoski was jailed at the Luzerne County Correctional Facility for lack of $750,000 bail.
According to the criminal complaint:
Police assisted Luzerne County Children and Youth Services with investigating a complaint of suspected child abuse at the home of Evanoski.
Evanoski’s 2-year-old son was taken to an Urgent Care for vomiting and was transferred to Geisinger Medical Center, Danville, on April 6, due to the toddler’s condition, weighing 11 pounds, and showing signs of malnourishment and dehydration.
Police described the toddler in the complaint as “extremely skinny and skeleton-like thinness.”
A Geisinger physician told police, the complaint says, the toddler was in chronic malnourishment. The child was only able to eat pureed foods, the complaint alleges.
A search warrant was executed at Evanoski’s house, where police described the interior as deplorable, with dirty clothes, rotting food, dirty dishes and kitchen countertops, overfilled cat litter boxes, and cat feces throughout the home, with a strong odor of cat urine, the complaint says.
A second child from the home was placed with a family.
