Woman Gets 4 Years in Abuse of Nephew, 8

A 32-year-old woman was sentenced to four years in prison Monday for punishing her nephew by taping his eyes and hands and inserting a lighted cigarette into his nose.

Dorothy Christina Evanovich, a transient, pleaded guilty Aug. 3 to one count of felony child abuse in exchange for dismissal of two other child abuse charges against her.

Los Angeles police arrested Evanovich on July 20 at a motel at the 8400 block of Sepulveda Boulevard after several employees and guests reported seeing the woman’s 8-year-old nephew and two young sons with tape on them, authorities said.

Evanovich told police she taped the eyes of her nephew, Steven, “because he looks around a lot.” She said she put a plastic bread bag over his head and taped his hands behind his back because she did not like his eating habits, prosecutors said. Investigators said she also placed a lighted cigarette in the boy’s nose.

Bizarre Discipline

Prosecutors alleged in the two dismissed child abuse charges that Evanovich also punished her sons Nicolas, 7, and Anthony, 4, in bizarre ways.

Authorities said Evanovich taped one of Nicolas’ eyes, his toes and his mouth after he refused to eat tuna. She also taped his hands into a praying position, put them on his head and placed a lamp shade on top, according to court records.

Evanovich taped Anthony’s hands to his side and placed dirty underwear on his head to stop him from touching his genitals, authorities said.

“This is not a case of a single instance of abuse against a single child,” Van Nuys Superior Court Commissioner Sherman Juster said in pronouncing sentence. “It’s not a case of a parent blowing her cool.”

A probation officer’s report referred to Evanovich as “a monster.” Evanovich’s attorney, Dennis A. Lockfield, conceded that his client’s actions were “not the way to discipline a child.” In asking for probation or a year or less in jail, Lockfield said: “I don’t think Mrs. Evanovich is a monster.”

Evanovich told Juster she thought the charges against her were “over-exaggerated.”

Juster asked the defendant: “Why did you put a plastic bag over a child’s head? Why did you stick a cigarette in the child’s nose?”

“It’s not true, your honor,” Evanovich replied.

The sentence of four years in state prison is two years less than the maximum term.