Published Saturday, December 28, 2002
Herald Staff Writers
A Sharon woman facing a charge of endangering the welfare of children after allegedly leaving her two daughters home alone for six days was arraigned Friday afternoon at District Justice James E. McMahon's office in Sharon.
Deborah A. Rust, 42, of 337 Andrew St., was served a warrant the evening of Dec. 21 at the Sharon police department, after police said she left her 9-year old and 13-year old alone between Dec. 14 through Dec. 19.
She was scheduled for an arraignment earlier this week, but the date was changed due to a scheduling conflict, police said.
Police said they were notified that Ms. Rust had disappeared after her 9-year-old daughter told a guidance counselor at West Hill Elementary School that she was staying with a woman on Madison Street and she hadn't seen or talked to her mother in days.
Ms. Rust has four children ages 22, 13, 9 and 2. Her 22-year-old son doesn't live with the family.
Ms. Rust, who denies the charge, said Friday that she never left her daughters alone without proper care and supervision. She said the two girls went to a friend's home and spent the weekend of Dec. 14 and 15 there.
While the girls were away Ms. Rust said she and a friend, John Malgieri, went to the Super 8 Motel in Shenango Township together with her 2-year-old. She said they planned to get away and relax.
The Herald reported Tuesday that Malgieri took the 13-year-old girl alone to the Super 8 Motel the night of Dec. 16, and took both girls to school the next day. However, both Malgieri and the 13-year-old deny that claim.
"I did not take this young girl to the hotel room by myself. We all went to the hotel together," Malgieri said.
Ms. Rust confirmed that Malgieri indeed got the room for the entire family to enjoy that night. The Herald also quoted from a police affidavit of probable cause in reporting that Malgieri is the boyfriend of Ms. Rust. However, the two denied having a relationship other than as friends, though they have a child together.
"It's all lies," Ms. Rust said of the child endangerment charge.
"This has been total chaos. That story ran on Christmas Eve. I really didn't even have a Christmas after I read that in the paper. I love my children and I'm a very good mother. It's all lies and slander and it's going to come out," she said.
She said the night of Dec. 17 the girls stayed another night at a friend's house and were only away for a total of three days -- not six -- which was previously reported by police.
"Maybe I took advantage of the situation. It's the first time I've let them stay that long. But when someone told me there were all these police cars surrounding my house I didn't know what to think," Ms. Rust said.
She said Dec. 18 the girls' father Richard "Rick" Rust of Masury picked them up to stay at his house.
In The Herald's Tuesday story, the girls' father was misidentified because of an incorrect first name in the affidavit prepared by police.
Rust said he had the girls in his custody through Dec. 21, which is the day he let them stay with friends while he went to work. The girls returned home to their mother that day to meet with Mercer County Children and Youth Services, he said.
"She always does this," he said Thursday in a telephone interview. "I've been telling them (Children and Youth), but nothing's been done."
Ms. Rust was arraigned and released Friday on her own recognizance. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. Jan. 21 at McMahon's office.