Child endangerment charges advance
A Butler couple accused of failing to seek medical care for a 2-year-old boy who fell out of a second-story window at their home was ordered to stand trial at their preliminary hearing Monday.
Michael J. Blontz, 37, and his wife, Ruth N. Blontz, 37, are each charged with a felony count of child endangerment.
The victim suffered a broken pelvis in the fall July 3 from the Blontzes home in the 500 block of West Jefferson Street, authorities said.
Butler police, meanwhile, are still looking for the child's mother, Krystal A. Otto, 32, who they also charged last week with felony child endangerment in the same incident.
None of the three defendants called 911 to get medical treatment for the boy, said Detective Eric Klopfer, who was the lone witness to testify Monday before District Judge William Fullerton.
He said a “third-party” call about 12:30 p.m. July 3 — more than 11 hours after the child allegedly fell out of the window — prompted police and emergency crews to go to the Blontz house.
The caller, Klopfer said, reported she had heard about what happened while at Rotary Park in Butler.
The detective said he got there and spoke to Otto and Ruth Blontz and her children. Michael Blontz was at work and he later returned home.
Otto said the previous night she had left her son and another child at the Blontzes' home under the couple's care. The couple's three children were also at the home.
A Butler Ambulance Service crew went upstairs to check on the child, who was eventually taken to Children's Hospital in Pittsburgh for treatment of injuries.
Ruth Blontz said she was awakened by her children, who told her that the boy had fallen, Klopfer recounted.“She said she wanted to call 911,” the detective testified, “but her husband didn't want her to. She said she stayed up with the (injured) child all night.”Michael Blontz said he, too, was awakened by his children, who mentioned the victim had fallen. He went upstairs to the bedroom where the fall happened, according to testimony and court documents.When he returned to his bedroom downstairs, he saw his wife with the boy on the bed.“He then took his pillow and went out to the couch to go to bed,” Klopfer said, testifying on Michael Blontz's account to police.Klopfer also spoke to the couple's children, who showed him where the boy had fallen. He described seeing a “concrete pad with blood on it.”The detective told prosecutor Ben Simon, a county assistant district attorney, that neither of the Blontzes or Otto called 911.Klopfer on cross-examination by Michael Klontz's court-appointed attorney, Patrick Casey, acknowledged that no one actually saw the boy fall.J.W. Hernandez-Cuebas, Ruth Blontz's court-appointed attorney, asked Klopfer about his client's text message to Otto, informing the mother that her son had fallen.The text was sent about 2 a.m., “within the hour,” the detective said, that she learned about the fall.Otto, however, did not show up at the Blontzes' home until about 10:30 a.m. — more than eight hours after receiving the text.
Both defense attorneys asked Fullerton to dismiss the charges.“There is a great absence of any reliable evidence,” Casey said, “of how this infant suffered injury on July 3.”Hernandez-Cuebas said Ruth Blontz “immediately tended to” and “comforted” the victim after learning what happened, and texted his mother.“There is no evidence my client knowingly endangered” the child, he argued. Instead, “she did something about it.”Simon said a “reasonable person” presented with the evidence available to the Blontzes that night should have known the victim had fallen and needed medical care. Yet neither called 911.He also called Ruth Blontz's text to Otto “very vague” and that it was “not enough to alleviate your duty to care for that child.”Fullerton ordered the couple held for court. Ruth Blontz is free on $5,000 bail. Michael Blontz is free on his own recognizance.Police have an arrest warrant for Otto, who has no known address, Klopfer said following the hearing, and she is being actively sought.
