I can t believe it s been a year already, she said. It feels like I read about it just yesterday, and it s still heartbreaking to hear what happened to that poor boy.
On May 26, 2020, Annville Township Police and members of the Lebanon County Detective Bureau found the body of 12-year-old Maxwell in his second-floor room. Both the bed and the victim s body were wholly covered in fecal matter, documents state. The door and its frame contained three metal hooks . to lock the child in his bedroom.
Police filed homicide charges against the victim s father, Scott Fremont Schollenberger Jr. and his live-in fiancée, Kimberly Marie Maurer, in September 2020.
A Lebanon father s grossly negligent behavior contributed to the death of his 2-month-old daughter, county prosecutors said.
Jack Ponicki Sr. was arrested April 14 on charges of involuntary manslaughter, aggravated assault and child endangerment, according to the Lebanon County District Attorney s Office. Officials said the child s unsafe sleeping and living conditions contributed to her death.
In June 2019, Ponicki placed his twin children down to sleep in a bassinet on top of an adult sized pillow in the 1100 block of Lehman Street, with several blankets and stuffed animals also in the bassinet. Ponicki is alleged to have claimed to have pulled a blanket up to the chest s of the infants and left them to go downstairs, officials said in a press release. Ponicki was later alerted to the cries of the sibling and found the female infant cold to the touch and face down upon the pillow.
For much of 2020, COVID-19 forced many people to remain at home, quarantined and isolated, to keep the disease from spreading.
Between late February and mid-March of 2020 hotline tips to ChildLine, Pennsylvania’s 24-hour hotline, fell from 17,693 calls to 9,068, according to data provided by the state Department of Human Services. When schools closed and daycares closed, child abuse reports to ChildLine in Pennsylvania and across the United States dropped precipitously, said Dr. Lori Frasier, a Penn State Center for the Protection of Children. The concern was that these mandatory reporters weren t there to see if children were being harmed.
Lebanon County Children and Youth services received 2,328 total reports of child abuse and neglect in 2020, according to county officials.
With two local child abuse cases getting national attention, Lebanon County District Attorney Pier Hess Graf says residents have wanted to be proactive with the problem. Every child deserves to be safe, she said Thursday. Every little boy and girl deserves to be safe when he or she goes to bed at night and wakes up in the morning.
In February, prosecutors filed 20 felony charges against Stephanie Angelette Duncan, 42, and her husband, Robert John Duncan, 44, of the 2700 block of Cedar Run Road.
The Duncans calculated and prolonged abuse included physical punishment, depriving the children of food, water, heat and bathroom privileges, and trying to cover up their crimes, according to prosecutors.
The Duncans allegedly tortured the children in calculated and prolonged ways. This included physical punishment, depriving them of food and water and heat and bathroom privileges, and trying to cover up their crimes. Each child provided statements which also illustrated the disturbing experience of watching S. Duncan and R. Duncan physically attack his or her siblings, according to a news release from the district attorney s office. Even minor misbehaviors, such as taking too long to consume water or complete a chore, resulted in horrific, violent abuse.
On Jan. 15, the Lebanon County Children and Youth Agency obtained a court order granting the agency custody of the children, who were then removed from the Duncan s home.