Woman Held on Abuse Charges of Taping Children’s Body Parts

Charges of felony child endangerment were filed Friday against a 31-year-old woman who police say taped the eyes, hands and feet of her two sons and a nephew as punishment.

After putting clear plastic medical tape on the children, the woman allegedly inserted a lit cigarette into the mouth and nose of one child to make him smoke it, forced another to wear his dirty underwear over his head, and forced the third to wear a lamp shade over his head, Los Angeles County Deputy Dist. Atty. Stephen A. Baron said.

The district attorney’s office Friday filed three counts of felony child endangerment against Dorothy Christina Evanovich, a transient with no known address. She is to be arraigned on the charges Monday in Van Nuys Municipal Court.

Evanovich was arrested Wednesday by Los Angeles police at the Hiway Host Travelyn Motel, 8424 Sepulveda Blvd., after several guests and employees saw the children with tape on them, Baron said. Evanovich had been at the hotel for two days.

Psychological Tests

The children have been placed in protective custody pending a juvenile court hearing into their permanent placement, Los Angeles Police Detective Susan Livera said Evanovich will undergo psychological testing to determine her fitness to care for the children, she said.

Livera said Evanovich told police she taped the eyes of her nephew, Stephen, 8, “because he kept looking around.” She taped his hands behind his back and put a plastic bread bag over them because the child “wasn’t a good eater,” the detective said. While the boy was taped, Evanovich put a lit cigarette in his nose and mouth, Livera added.

The hands of her son, Nicolas, 7, were taped together as if he were praying, and were placed on his head with a lamp shade on top because, Evanovich said, “he likes to stay up late at night,” Livera said. The detective quoted Evanovich as saying she taped his toes “because he’s always wiggling them.”

The woman taped the hands of her son, Anthony, 4, to his side and placed his underwear over his head to stop him from playing with his penis, Livera said.

Although the boys all had flea bites, there were no other signs of physical abuse, Baron said.

Evanovich was being held in Van Nuys Jail on Friday in lieu of $9,000 bail.