Two Pittston Twp. parents charged with severely neglecting their 2-year-old child after the malnourished boy was hospitalized with a weight of only 11 pounds will stand trial on aggravated assault and child endangerment charges following a preliminary hearing Friday.
Jared Tyler Schlosser, 27, and Margaret Lynn Evanoski, 26, were arrested in May after their son was admitted to Geisinger Medical Center in Danville showing signs of neglect, malnutrition and dehydration.
During a court appearance Friday, Schlosser waived his right to a preliminary hearing on all 10 charges he was facing, including aggravated assault and endangering the welfare of a child.
Evanoski opted to have a hearing, which ended with Magisterial District Judge Alexandra Kokura Kravitz forwarding all 10 charges against her to the Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas for trial.
The couple was ordered to appear for a dispositional hearing before Judge Joseph F. Sklarosky Jr. on Jan. 28.
According to the charges, Evanoski brought her son to an urgent care clinic on the morning of April 6 because he had been vomiting, and he was subsequently taken by ambulance to Geisinger.
Doctors reported that in addition to malnutrition and dehydration, the toddler demonstrated a “failure to thrive” and was unable to talk or walk.
Luzerne County Children, Youth and Families received an abuse tip about the situation and contacted Pittston Twp. police, who found both parents at home later the same day.
The parents — who could not recall in which hospital their son was born — told police they had not gone with the boy to Danville because the hospital is over an hour’s drive away, according to the complaint.
Police described finding the home in “deplorable” condition, with old food left out, dirty dishes and laundry piling up and overflowing bags of garbage spilling onto the kitchen floor.
The home also reeked with the “unbearable smell of urine and cat feces,” police said, noting they found an overflowing litter box with feline feces “all over the floor.”
Schlosser told police he had noticed the boy feeling ill the previous few days and had been wondering if it was a “24-hour bug” or something similar, the complaint says.
Evanoski indicated the child’s weight had been an ongoing issue, saying he gains and loses weight depending on whether he is feeling good or not, according to the complaint.
However, police said they learned the boy did not have any immunizations and had last been seen by a doctor when he was 2 months old, the charges allege.
Evanoski and Schlosser are each charged with aggravated assault, conspiring to commit aggravated assault, endangering the welfare of a child, conspiring to endanger the welfare of a child, reckless endangerment and conspiring to commit reckless endangerment.
Court records indicated Evanoski had been released from jail in July after posting bail via a bondsman.
Schlosser had been jailed without bail since his arrest on May 13. After he waived his right to the preliminary hearing on Friday, Kravitz set his bail at $150,000.
He was remanded to await trial at the Luzerne County Correctional Facility.