To Bucks County Common Pleas Court Judge Charissa Liller it was clear that Crystal Robertson loved her animals more than anything, especially her pet lizard, a 4-foot long Argentine Red Tegu lizard named Boudin.
Even more than her seven children, who were found last year hungry, sick, dirty, illiterate and living in an unsanitary unsafe mobile home with Robertson, 39, her husband, Shane, 48, and two dozen well-cared for animals, authorities said.
On Tuesday Liller did not hold back her anger from the couple who appeared before her to be sentenced after both pleaded guilty earlier this year to seven felony charges of child neglect and seven summary charges of animal neglect in a case that shocked the community.
“These defendants chose themselves and animals and ignored these children,” Liller said. "You two are some of the worst parents I've ever seen in my career."
The judge then ordered both to serve 8 to 16 years in state prison, a sentence that reflected punishment for the lifelong damage they inflicted on each of their children, Liller said.
As part of her sentence, Liller also barred the Robertsons from any contact with their children — who are now 5 to 17 years-old — until they turn 18 years old, and then only if the child requests either written or phone contact through a therapist intermediary.
The judge also ordered that neither defendant could own animals during their period of court supervision after release.
Remaining misdemeanor charges for simple assault and conspiracy against the couple were dropped. Those charges were filed after the children told investigators their parents hit themwithbelts, hands and electrical cordsif they misbehaved for things like sneaking food or soda.
During the more than two hour hearing Tuesday, new details emerged involving what a children's hospital emergency room doctor called among the worst, if not the worst, child neglect case she had seen in her career, and the only time she has ever diagnosed education neglect.
They included how four of the children had not seen a doctor since 2016; the youngest child had not seen a doctor since she was 5 months-old, according to the prosecutor Brittney Kern. None of the children ever had seen a dentist. The 6-year-old spent five weeks in a mental health hospital.
After they were removed from their parents' custody the children told social workers that all the "good food" was reserved for the family's animals. Police also reported the only “notable food” in the home was for the animals.
Only the oldest of the six school-age children could read, but at a fifth-grade level; some children did not know their last name, ages, birth dates or recognize numbers months after they were removed from the home in April 2023.
The children are making progress, and they will soon start their second year in public school, but they are all two grade levels below where they should be based on their ages, Kern said. The children now live with Crystal Robertson's sister and mother, who want to adopt them.
Kern argued that the Robertsons made a conscious choice to place their own comfort, and the comfort of their animals above their children's needs, and that they knew their actions were wrong citing their initial attempts conceal how many children they had from authorities.
Other evidence including online messages and psychological reports, suggests the couple are not genuinely remorseful and that they blame others, including their children, for their arrests, Kern said.
In court Kern showed an online message the day the children were removed, where Crystal complained to her husband that the couple were being "treated like criminals because the kids made a stupid decision."
"This is not the kids fault. It's only the fault of the parents," Kern said. "I ask you to hold these defendants accountable."
Defense attorneys for the couple countered their clients have taken steps to rehabilitate their lives, address their mental and behavior issues, and become the parents they should have been to their children, and they plan to continue those efforts.
Shane Robertson told Liller that he was sorry for his actions and apologized to his family and his children.
"I take full accountability for the mistakes I made. I feel so ashamed for letting my life spiral out of control," he said. "There is no greater punishment than possibly life without your children.”
Crystal Robertson, who started crying before the hearing started, also told the court she understands she made poor life choices, which she attributed to childhood trauma, adding "there is absolutely no excuse."
"I cannot put into words how sorry I am. I am embarrassed and ashamed of my actions " she said. "I will spend the rest of my life trying to make this up to them."
The Robertson children did not attend the sentencing because their guardians believed it would be too traumatizing, Kern said. She added that child welfare workers have indicated the children believe they are responsible for their parents’ arrest.
The family of nine moved into the three-bedroom unit in the Green Top Mobile Home Park in West Rockhill after the 2020 death of Crystal Robertson’s father, who owned the trailer where they lived, authorities said.
But the children'sliving situation wasn’t revealeduntil a neighbor called Pennridge Regional Police to report seeing the children removing items out of an abandoned mobile home.
One of the children told the officer who responded that she only took a blanket to keep the family’s pet rats warm, because her parents didn’t have much money left.
Asubsequent police and child welfare investigationfound the children were living in squalid unhealthy conditions.
All the children slept in one bedroom on a mattress smeared with animal feces. The refrigerator door was secured with a bike lock to keep the children out, and Crystal had the only key.
Photos of the mobile home's condition showed in court including feces covered floors, trash piles filling rooms and entryways, broken doors; and deteriorated wood floors; in the bathroom there was no sign of personal hygiene products including toothpaste or toilet paper.
After they were removed from the home, the children were diagnosed with health problems including severe dental neglect, low body mass index, low kidney function, poor eyesight, two have asthma The four youngest children have speech impediments, the youngest so bad that she could not be understood, Kern said.
Liller called the photos of the home so appalling that she could not think of enough negative words to describe them.
"Your animals lived in nicer and cleaner facilities than you and your children," Liller said. "How do you live with yourselves?"
The judge noted that the couple had plenty of available options to improve their children's lives: free public school, which could have provided the children two free meals a day, state-subsidized health care, food stamps and food pantries. But they choose instead to make their children's health and well-being their last priority.
"I'm having a difficult time referring to you two as parents," Liller said. "I believe you thought those kids were a hassle."
Reporter Jo Ciavaglia can be reached at jciavaglia@gannett.com
