A behavioral therapist was arrested on Thursday and charged with physically and sexually assaulting a 4-year-old autistic boy in his home in Long Hill, N.J., the authorities said yesterday.
A hidden camera installed on Wednesday by the boy's parents showed Christine Mischenko, 23, punching, grabbing and kicking the boy during a therapy session, said Michael M. Rubbinaccio, the Morris County prosecutor.
Ms. Mischenko, who graduated from Rutgers University with a bachelor's degree in psychology, was hired by the boy's parents in January 2003. She was to teach the boy, identified in court papers as B.H., communication and social skills at his home in Morris County for two to six hours per week, Mr. Rubbinaccio said.
"The contents of the videotape are disturbing," Mr. Rubbinaccio said. "The acts committed by this woman are both sadistic and cruel."
According to court documents, Ms. Mischenko admitted, in an interview with the police, to "kicking and punching the victim's head, shaking the victim from the ears, lifting the victim by the hair, squeezing and pulling the victim's genital area and spraying the victim in the face with water from a hypodermic needle."
Ms. Mischenko worked as a behavioral therapist for New Horizons in Autism, a nonprofit agency based in Neptune, N.J., Mr. Rubbinaccio said. Although no state certification is needed to become a behavioral therapist, Ms. Mischenko had been trained to work with children and how to spot abuse and neglect in patients, Mr. Rubbinaccio said.
Prosecutors are looking into Ms. Mischenko's past work history with other patients. A telephone call placed on Saturday to New Horizons in Autism was not answered.
Mr. Rubbinaccio said the boy's parents installed video surveillance equipment after noticing bruises on the boy's ears. "The video has no sound," Mr. Rubbinaccio said, "but you can see that the child was in severe pain." The boy was treated at a local hospital and released, Mr. Rubbinaccio said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/05/nyregion/05therapist.html
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