WESTLAKE : Woman Enters Plea in Child Abuse Case

A Westlake woman accused of making her adopted teen-age daughter live in a back-yard racquetball court pleaded not guilty to two counts of child abuse at her Superior Court arraignment Tuesday.

Charlotte Russo, 51, was ordered to stand trial Dec. 6 on one felony count of child abuse and one misdemeanor count.

Last week, her husband, Richard Russo, 49, was sentenced to 30 days in jail, placed on three years probation and ordered to undergo psychological counseling after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor child abuse count in the case.

Investigators said the girl, now 16, told them that Charlotte Russo beat her regularly and first began locking her in the bathroom of their back-yard racquetball court several years ago.

Charlotte Russo’s attorney, James M. Farley of Ventura, said she wants to go to trial so that her side of the story can be told.

“There’s fiction and there’s fact, and so far all I’ve heard from the prosecution is fiction and we will present the facts” at the trial, Farley said outside the courtroom.

He said some cases of child abuse are legitimate, but that many are not, including the one against Charlotte Russo, a nurse.

“It’s the witch hunt of the 1980s and 1990s,” he said of many complaints of child abuse.

Russo, wearing a short black coat and appearing somber, declined comment. Farley said she has received anonymous calls from people “who hang up and say she should be whipped.”