Easton mother who allowed baby to drown pleads guilty
The Easton woman was drunk when she put her two little children in the bathtub together and left them.
As her 11-month-old daughter drowned, Crystal M. Cwiklik stayed in the kitchen, charging her phone and making drunken calls, a Northampton County prosecutor said Friday. Not even the screams for help from her elder child, a 21-month-old son, could bring her to check on her children.
“That poor 2-year-old had to helplessly watch as his sister drowned,” Assistant District Attorney Tatum Wilson said. “There aren’t words to describe that.”
On Friday, Cwiklik pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and endangering the welfare of a child, crimes that will likely send her to state prison when she is sentenced Nov. 26 by Judge Anthony Beltrami. Cwiklik, 36, and now of Allentown, fought tears and wiped her eyes as she admitted that her negligence caused her daughter’s death.
“What happened that day is unfathomable, and she’s haunted by it,” said defense attorney Gary Asteak.
“It’s one thing to love your kids. It’s another thing entirely to neglect them,” Asteak said. “She loved these kids. She didn’t have the tools and equipment to adequately care for them.”
Cwiklik was charged in January following an investigation by a county grand jury into the July 2017 death of Cassie Montoro.
At the time the daughter slipped under the water that evening, Cwiklik had left the girl and her brother in the tub for 22 minutes at their home in the 100 block of Nesquehoning Street in Easton, authorities said.
Authorities estimated that when the girl died, Cwiklik’s blood-alcohol content was as high as 0.25% — three times the legal definition of intoxication — and she admitted she had been drinking from the moment she woke up that morning, Wilson said.
A phone call Cwiklik made while in the kitchen captured some of the moments before she discovered her daughter face down in the tub.
Cwiklik had called police over an alleged domestic violence incident from early that day, claiming her paramour had stolen from her, according to court records. In the background of the recorded call, Cwiklik’s son can be heard screaming, “Mommy, mommy” as she ignored him, Wilson said.
“Mommy is just trying to get her money back,” Cwiklik replied, according to Wilson.
Police responding to the drowning had to force entry into the home on July 27, 2017. They found Cassie lifeless in the living room, her mother holding her, authorities said. Despite efforts to save the girl, she was later pronounced dead at Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest.
Authorities said the girl had organ failure because of a lack of oxygen, and small bruises along her forehead, arm and chest. The cause of death was “anoxic brain injury,” or a lack of oxygen to the brain.
Cwiklik first told authorities she remained in the bathroom with her children and turned her back for only a second to grab a washcloth. But she later admitted she had lied, saying she left the room after putting her children in the tub, Wilson said.
Cwiklik’s son has been removed from her care by county caseworkers, though she is permitted supervised visits with him. She remains free on bail, though Wilson raised concerns Friday, saying she failed one recent drug test and missed others.
Cwiklik was scheduled to have another drug test Friday afternoon. Beltrami said if she failed it, she would be jailed.
When she is sentenced, Cwiklik faces guidelines that recommend a minimum prison term of as long as 3½ years.
Morning Call reporter Riley Yates can be reached at 610-2535751 or riley.yates@mcall.com.