Credit: U.S. Marshals Service
Tuesday was the day Christine Dunkowski, 48, of Middletown Township, had tried to flee, but the long arm of the law caught up to her.
Inside the Bucks County Justice Center in Doylestown Borough, Dunkowski came before Common Pleas Judge Wallace Bateman and was sentenced to eight to 21 years in state prison. The judge gave Dunkowski 146 days of credit for time served in the Bucks County Correctional Facility.
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Dunkowski and her husband were convicted in absentia in October 2021 on three counts each of endangering the welfare of a child in a neglect case where authorities said it was among the worst they had ever seen.
Albert Dunkowski, 54, Christine Dunkowski’s husband, was sentenced to nine to 21 years in state prison earlier this year.
On the final day of their October 2021 trial at the Justice Center, the couple failed to show up and fled.
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After fleeing, Albert Dunkowski was captured by law enforcement in Maryland, then let go due to a paperwork issue, and finally captured again by bounty hunters.
Christine Dunkowski was nabbed in late October in Wilmington, Delaware by the U.S. Marshal Service. Shortly after, she became free again and was nabbed finally in February.
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Middletown Township officers arrested the Dunkowskis in 2019 after officers found them and four kids – ages 5, 6, 9, and 13 – sleeping in a vehicle at the Woodbourne Train Station. The family was living in the vehicle and the nearby woods, authorities said.
At the trial for the pair, Deputy District Attorney Matt Lannetti said 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.
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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Police learned the couple had more kids who weren’t with them in the vehicle at the train station.
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.
Albert Dunkowski told police 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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During the trial, prosecutors told the court none of the kids went to school and the family never had contact with social services agencies.
The children are recovering from the neglect after being taken away from their parents, authorities have said.
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“Being homeless is not a crime, being poor is not a crime,” Lannetti said during the trial. “Treating your children like this is a crime.”
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.
Christine Dunkowski’s troubles aren’t over, according to court papers. She is facing several theft charges out of Bristol Township and is being held on 10 percent of $5 million in that case as she awaits a preliminary hearing that is slated for August.
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