Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, September 27, 1994 TAG: 9409270107
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: PITTSBURGH LENGTH: Medium
Bonnie Railing and James Fignar offered no public explanation for their 16-day absence, but Fignar's employer said he was working in New Jersey until Saturday installing floor coverings.
The couple were arrested when they appeared at a custody hearing for the children, who ranged in age from 2 to 10.
The sitter, 14-year-old Angela Morris, tried to maintain the household, enlisting the help of friends, skipping school and keeping the secret from authorities, hoping to keep the children out of foster homes.
``In the end, that's what happened anyway,'' she said.
The gas had been shut off at the house, so the teen improvised to feed and bathe the youngsters, at one point heating bath water in an electric coffee maker.
Police acting on an anonymous tip came to the house Friday and removed the children.
Railing and Fignar were to be arraigned Monday on four counts each of endangering the welfare of a child. Each count carries five years in jail.
Fignar also was charged with failing to appear at a hearing earlier this year on a 1993 domestic violence charge, police said.
Family Court Judge Joseph Jaffe ruled Monday the children must remain in foster care at least until another hearing Oct. 5, said Mark Cancilla, a lawyer representing the children.
The couple learned about the hearing, which was closed, from the children's grandmother, who said she tried to have the children turned over to her last week.
The couple had no comment as they left the custody hearing. The children attended, and the oldest was crying, said their grandmother, Dorothy Brooks.
``The kids are obviously quite traumatized after having been removed from their home,'' Cancilla said.
The baby sitter said the couple left their two children, ages 2 and 3, and Railing's two older children, ages 9 and 10, in her care on Sept. 7, with the promise they'd return in three days. Her payment was to be $75.
``But it ended up being extended every other day until it ended up being 16 days,'' Angela said.
Last week, Brooks had asked police to release the children to her care but was turned down. She said she didn't realize how long the parents had been away or how young the baby sitter was.
Fignar worked until Saturday installing floor coverings at a Burlington Coat Factory store being built in Lawrenceville, N.J., according to Ric Bramble, a Burlington spokesman. Railing said the job took longer than expected, and Fignar wouldn't be paid until the job was completed, Brooks said.
The couple initially called twice from New Jersey and left a motel phone number, but the motel would not accept the sitter's collect calls.
Police who described the neighborhood as a well-kept working-class area said the house was filthy when they removed the children. The baby sitter took the blame for that.
``It was hard to keep the house clean, especially with the little ones,'' Angela said.
The teen said she'd seen the movie ``Home Alone,'' about a child accidentally left behind when his parents went on vacation.
``I thought it was funny,'' she said, ``but I didn't have time to think about that. I was too busy thinking about what I needed to do for the kids.''
by CNB