Credit: Middletown police
A Middletown Township couple on trial for endangering the welfare of their kids skipped out before the trial ended.
Albert Dunkowski, 54, and Christine Dunkowski, 47, were on trial before jurors and President Judge Wallace Bateman this week at the Justice Center in Doylestown Borough. They were in court Monday and Tuesday, but they failed to show up Wednesday as closing arguments were underway.
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Bateman issued bench warrants for the Dunkowskis.
The judge made the decision to allow the closing arguments of the trial to continue without the two defendants being present after a search was conducted for the couple, according to the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office.
After deliberations, the Dunkowskis were convicted in absentia on three counts each of endangering the welfare of a child.
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Bateman, according to court papers, revoked bail for the two and delayed sentencing until the Dunkowskis were in custody.
Authorities said Middletown Township police came upon an occupied vehicle in the parking lot of the Woodbourne Train Station around 2 a.m. on August 27, 2019. The officer found the Dunkowskis and four kids – ages 5, 6, 9, and 13 – sleeping in the vehicle. The officer noted the inside of the vehicle was in “poor condition” and there was trash all over the seats and floor.
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While the couple objected to medics being called, police requested them because they observed the children “appeared sickly.”
Deputy District Attorney Matt Lannetti said in court that the conditions in the vehicle were so bad that bugs were crawling around, there was trash piled so high the view of one child was obstructed, and there was a strong odor of urine and feces.
The four kids were taken from the train station property to St. Mary Medical Center.
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At the hospital, a doctor said it was “one of the worst cases of neglect I have ever seen,” police wrote in court papers.
An evaluation by a doctor found the kids were malnourished and had urine-soaked pants. The two youngest were in diapers that had not been changed and a girl with cerebral palsy had bed sores all over her body, police said.
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After the three neglected kids were found at the train station, police learned the couple had two more children.
One girl was found at a family friend’s home with serious neglect-caused dental problems. She couldn’t chew on one side of her mouth, authorities said.
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Another child was located in Falls Township and was malnourished and 30 pounds underweight, authorities said.
Investigators said Albert Dunkowski told them the family ended up living in the vehicle and in a wooded encampment near the train station after they lost their home following a fight with a family member.
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The Dunkowskis’ marriage license filed with the county stated the two married in 1996. Albert Dunkowski was born in Poland and lived with Bristol-native Christine Dunkowski (then Christine Barber) in Middletown’s Levittown section, according to public records obtained by LevittownNow.com.
During the trial, prosecutors said none of the kids went to school and the family never had contact with social services agencies.
Lannetti said the fact the kids were not enrolled in schools and had no contact with social service agencies was how they slid under the radar for so long.
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Lannetti said the children are recovering from the neglect after being taken away from their parents.
“Being homeless is not a crime, being poor is not a crime,” he said. “Treating your children like this is a crime.”
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