A Bronx mother was arrested for starving her twin teenage sons, who she kept “virtually housebound” inside her Riverdale apartment for 9 years, Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark announced Tuesday.
Lissette Soto Domenech, 64, was charged with assault, reckless endangerment and endangering the welfare of a child for the abuse she inflicted on her two boys, Clark said.
“This defendant is accused of a shocking, horrifying form of child abuse, allegedly depriving her sons of proper food, social interaction, education, medical attention,” Clark said. “We will do everything we can to help these boys attain a normal life.”
A specialist with the city’s Administration for Children’s Services checked on Domenech’s Mosholu Ave. apartment in response to several anonymous complaints on Oct. 15, prosecutors said.
Inside, Domenech’s 14-year-old sons were found in an extreme state of malnourishment, with one boy weighing 54 pounds and the other just 51 pounds, according to prosecutors, who said both teens were short for their age.
Medics rushed the teens to Montefiore Children’s Hospital, where they were treated for three months, according to Clark’s office.
Multiple neighbors described Domenech as a recluse supported by her husband, an older man, who made daily food deliveries to his family while living out of a car.
“He didn’t live with her. He lived in his car. It was strange,” said one neighbor, who asked that her name be withheld. “They never came out. Not her kids and not her.”
Domenech appeared germophobic, obsessively disinfecting everything her husband brought to the apartment, another neighbor said.
“Everything her husband brought had to be disinfected,” 47-year-old Valentina Ndou said. “She would throw out the paper towel if she thought it wasn’t disinfected.”
Ndou’s son, the building’s super, said he was performing minor repairs on Domenech’s apartment when he spotted rubber puzzle pieces intended for small children lying on the floor. It was the only sign he could recall that Domenech had children, he said.
“I’ve lived here my whole life. I never really saw her kids,” said 20-year-old Franco Ndou. “To be honest, I kind of forgot she had kids.”
Valentina Ndou said Domenech worked as a teacher prior to the birth of her sons, after which she appeared to withdraw from the world.
“She went to work every morning and came home in the afternoon like everybody else,” Valentina Ndou said. “After she had the kids, she was scared. She was scared to let anyone in. She was afraid someone would take them. She was afraid someone would do something to them.”
Franco Ndou said Domenech’s husband died of cancer sometime before her arrest.
Inside Domenech’s apartment, investigators found infant cereal, baby bottles and toys fit for a toddler, but no food or belongings appropriate for two teenage boys, Clark said.
One of Domenech’s boys is autistic, but his condition was never evaluated or treated, according to prosecutors.
Investigators determined the boys had their last doctor’s appointment in Nov. 2016 and that Domenech began submitting false paperwork to the New York City Department of Education in Sept. 2017, claiming she was homeschooling them.
Bronx Supreme Court Justice Audrey Stone set bail for Domenech at $25,000 cash and $75,000 bond. She is due back in court on Feb. 4.
