Adoptive parents of abused boy arrested

Adoptive parents of abused boy arrested
Reported by: KMTR.com Staff
Last Update: 8:40 am

Eugene (KMTR) - A Lane County couple is in jail, accused of abusing a foster child they took in more than four years ago, and later adopted.

Rodger and Alona Hartwig are charged with assault and criminal mistreatment of their adopted nine-year-old son.

The Oregon Department of Human Services says the boy has been released from a Portland hospital and placed with a different foster family.

Sheriff’s investigators say the victim first joined the Hartwig family as a foster child when he was four, and was later adopted. The couple also adopted the boy's two siblings.

In March, the Hartwigs took the boy to Sacred Heart Medical Center at RiverBend in Springfield, where doctors found several fractures to the boy’s ribs, fingers, vertebrae and pelvic bones in addition to a severe, untreated third-degree burn on his foot, according to the investigators.

The boy was later taken to a children's hospital in Portland.

Sheriff’s Lieutenant Byron Trapp said, “There is some indication on the medical analysis that they are varying ages of injuries. Some are very acute, fresh, injuries and some do show some indication of healing.”

In all, the Hartwigs had six children in their care; four adopted and two biological. All the children are between the ages of 9 and 13 years. All are now in foster care.

The Lane County Sheriff’s Office could not comment on whether any of the other children had suffered abuse, but that is something they are looking into.

The nine-year-old boy attended public school and was also home-schooled.

http://www.kmtr.com/news/local/story/Adoptive-parents-of-abused-boy-arrested/5w8VYiSFgkCOph49W3rCww.cspx