Judge’s Promise Elicits Guilty Plea in Child Abuse Case

An affluent Thousand Oaks mother accused of forcing her teen-aged daughter to live in a back-yard racquetball court for two years pleaded guilty to felony child abuse Tuesday, after a judge promised not to impose more than a six-month jail term.

The plea by Charlotte Russo, a 52-year-old registered nurse who is married to a stockbroker, came one month after a jury deadlocked 11 to 1 for conviction on the felony charge.

The judge’s sentencing agreement was quickly criticized by the 16-year-old victim, who attended the court hearing.

“I think she should get more. That’s not even a year,” the girl said. “I was in the racquetball court for two whole years. She’s not going to know what it’s like at all.”

In court, Russo appeared nervous as she answered “guilty” when Ventura County Superior Court Judge Charles W. Campbell Jr. asked how she pleaded to inflicting corporal injury on a child.

Russo and her husband, Richard, were arrested May 24, 1993, and charged with child abuse after neighbors reported seeing Charlotte Russo attack the girl, then 15, in the garage of the family’s nine-bedroom home.

Richard Russo, 49, pleaded guilty to misdemeanor child abuse in November, served a 30-day jail term and was placed on three years probation, officials said.

During Charlotte Russo’s often dramatic seven-week trial, the girl told the jury that she had suffered mental, physical and emotional abuse at the hands of her mother for several years.

Her mother punched, pinched, scratched, bit and forced her to sleep for long periods of time in the family’s back-yard racquetball court, the girl testified. Her diet on many days consisted of a mixture of oatmeal and raw eggs, according to the girl’s account.

Charlotte Russo also took the stand, denying her daughter’s accusations. The mother described the girl as a problem child who lied, stole and refused to follow commands.

She said her husband ordered the girl to sleep in the $75,000 racquetball court as punishment for violating her no-sodium diet. But Russo said the girl slept there only for a two-week period.

The Russos’ six other children--including one, who like the victim is adopted--all testified for the mother. The case seemed to turn when several neighbors recounted in court about incidents of seeing Russo beat the victim.

The jury convicted Russo of misdemeanor child abuse for charges of locking the girl in the racquetball court and physically abusing her. But the same jury deadlocked on a felony charge that Russo bit her daughter several times on the arms just hours before being arrested.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Dee Corona announced last Friday that prosecutors would seek a second trial. That was when Russo decided to plead guilty, said her attorney, James M. Farley.

The judge set sentencing for Aug. 2, after probation officials complete a background report.

The girl--adopted at age 1--has been placed in foster care.