Rudolph couple charged with felony child neglect

WISCONSIN RAPIDS−A Rudolph couple is facing felony charges after a child they cared for ended up in a child’s intensive care unit in Marshfield with suspected malnutrition and wounds that hadn’t been cared for.

Aaron J. Rakowski, 46, and Melissa M. Rakowski, 41, each face charges of being a party to the crimes of child neglect resulting in great bodily harm and causing mental harm to a child. Both are free on $5,000 cash bails set Aug. 7 by Wood County Circuit Judge Timothy Gebert. As a condition of their bails, Gebert ordered the couple to have no contact with children.

On Aug. 11, the couple made their initial court appearances on the charges. Wood County Circuit Judge Gregory Jerabek informed them they each had a right to an attorney and set their next court appearances for Aug. 19.

According to the criminal complaints, on May 15, an investigator with the Wood County Sheriff’s Office responded to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit a Marshfield Children’s Hospital, 611 N. Saint Ave. in Marshfield, for a report of a child who doctors suspected was the victim of abuse. A Wood County Human Services employee told the investigator the girl had run away from home two weeks earlier and was found in a neighbor’s garbage can.

The girl had suffered from frostbite at some point, and Aaron and Melissa Rakowski had not taken care of the related injuries, according to the complaint. The girl had evidence of having had a nosebleed. She had a large cut on her Achilles tendon and bruising on the bridge of her nose and around her eye.

Aaron Rakowski told the investigator the girl had run away in February and had gotten frostbite at that time. He said he and his wife took the girl for medical care, but they were told there was nothing doctors could do to help. Aaron Rakowski said they were just told to keep the girl warm, according to the complaint.

Aaron Rakowski said the cut on the girl’s leg was from the frostbite and the other injuries on her legs were because she didn’t put lotion on her legs, according to the complaint. He said the girl didn’t harm herself beyond scratching herself. He said she hurt her nose and got the bruises on her face from running into a branch in the dark.

Aaron Rakowski told the investigator the girl had been placed on a lithium prescription May 12 and later complained about her leg hurting, according to the criminal complaint. She started getting slower, complained about her legs hurting her and started retaining water, he said.

Aaron Rakowski then corrected himself and said the prescription issuance had occurred on May 7, and Melissa Rakowski talked to medical staff on May 13 about the girl’s condition. He said staff told her if the girl wasn’t better in two days they should take her to a hospital, according to the complaint.

Aaron Rakowski said they thought she was doing better on May 15, but then Melissa Rakowski went out to the barn and when she returned to the house she found the girl was lethargic and not acting normal, so the couple took her to the emergency room, according to the complaint.

The hospital found that the girl had only a third of the blood she should have and had a temperature of 84 degrees, Aaron Rakowski told the investigator. He said the doctor told him the girl had an enlarged heart, according to the complaint.

Doctors in Marshfield discovered the girl had kwashiorkor, a severe form of malnutrition caused by a lack of protein in the diet, according to the complaint. It can cause skin problems, water retention, a bloated stomach, lethargy and constant crying or bad moods.

The couple told the investigator the girl would eat until her stomach became bloated and she would throw up, according to the complaint.

Aaron and Melissa Rakowski put the girl on a restricted diet with a lot of eggs and rice, according to the complaint. The girl would ask for more food but she was told no. The couple kept the flood locked up to keep the girl from stealing it. When the girl was in school, she asked permission to eat the food the other children didn’t want, according to the complaint.

The girl had bladder problems and would wet her bed at night or her clothes during the day. Melissa Rakowski refused to give the girl clean clothes because she didn’t want to do the laundry, according to the complaint. The girl would sometimes go barefoot because she didn’t want to wear socks that had become soiled with urine. The girl sometimes stole clothes because she didn’t want to wear dirty ones and would get punished when she was caught.

The girl said she was punished by having to do jumping jacks or run up and down the driveway, which was on a big hill by their house, according to the complaint. Sometimes the couple made her stand with her hands above her head. The girl said she slept on only a mattress and had to use stuffed animals to sleep on because they wouldn’t give her a pillow.

Another child confirmed the girl was limited on her food and said Melissa and Aaron Rakowski would punish the girl by making her run laps on the driveway, according to the complaint. The child said they’d order the girl to do 50 laps and, if she did something wrong while running, they’d add another 25 laps. The girl told the investigator sometimes she had to run all day.

The other child also said the girl was punished when she ran away by Melissa or Aaron Rakowski hitting her. The child said he didn’t know where the girl was hit because he didn’t like to see anyone being beaten, so he didn’t watch, according to the complaint.

Aaron and Melissa Rakowski gave the investigator records from a clinic where they were taking the girl. The notes included that the girl liked to make false claims Melissa Rakowski wasn’t feeding her to cause the woman problems. It also said the girl would deliberately do things to make Melissa Rakowski angry. The investigator believed Melissa or Aaron Rakowski had added the comments to the records, according to the complaint.

The girl began getting better after a few days in the hospital, according to the complaint. She did not ask for additional food and did not try to sneak food, according to the complaint. The wounds that had not healed previously also got better.

If convicted, Aaron and Melissa Rakowski each face a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison.