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Astoria couple accused of duct-taping foster child

06:05 PM PDT on Tuesday, July 31, 2007

By PAT DOORIS, kgw.com Staff

Bill Roberts is furious over the way he says foster parents in Astoria treated his young son while the boy was in their care in September of 2006.

"The child was being duct-taped. And we brought him to the hospital and they found residue marks on his legs," Roberts said.

A Clatsop County Grand Jury indicted the foster parents, Ryan and Tiffany Erven, on five counts of criminal mistreatment in the first degree, tampering with a witness, assault in the fourth degree, and child neglect in the 2nd degree.

Roberts is reluctant to go into details, since the case is pending in court. But Bill Krismer, a close family friend, says Austin Roberts was duct taped in several locations.

KGW graphic

"They found tape residue on the crib where they duct-taped him to the crib to try and get him to sleep,” said Krismer.

“They duct-taped him to his potty chair trying to teach him how to be potty trained I guess, putting a bucket over his head and taping him to the chair getting him to go to the bathroom."

Both the suspects pleaded not guilty.

They declined comment for this report, but their lawyer Eric Woodard spoke for them.

“My client’s position is they did not do anything illegal or inappropriate” said Woodard.

“They have done foster care and child care in their home for a number of years and a number of people in community were supportive and remain supportive of them” said Woodard.

Marietta Virgillo is a neighbor of the Ervens. She says children at the home seem healthy, happy and well cared for.

"She watches them very closely,” Virgillo said.

But Roberts is not convinced.

He admitted his children were taken from his home by the state because of a lack of supervision and a messy house.

But he said the state should do a better job of selecting foster parents.

He said his son is still suffering from their treatment.

"Austin, we can’t potty train him. He's scared to death of the toilet, obviously from what happened in the bathroom. We're working on that," Roberts said.

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