Guilty plea in recklessly endangering a child case
Date:
08.13.2012 Mackenzie J. Tarjick, 34, pleaded guilty in Hampshire Superior Court today to two counts of recklessly endangering a child. Tarjick admitted she did not contact authorities after learning her then-husband had repeatedly sexually abused a young girl.
Tarjick, of Pittsfield, will be sentenced in Hampshire Superior Court on Monday, Aug. 20 at 2 p.m.
“The serial sexual abuse of an innocent child was horrific,” Northwestern District Attorney David E. Sullivan said.
“Holding Mackenzie Tarjick accountable for allowing repeated sexual abuse to a young girl was paramount in seeking justice.”
In June, a Hampshire County jury found Tarjick’s former husband Aaron Tarjick guilty of a total of 17 counts of sexual acts toward two separate child victims for charges that were brought in Berkshire and Hampshire counties and joined for trial in Hampshire Superior Court. He is currently serving a term of 19-25 years in state prison.
Assistant District Attorney Linda Pisano, Chief of the Child Abuse Unit of the Office of Northwestern District Attorney David E. Sullivan, and Assistant District Attorney Rachael Eramo, who is assigned to the Berkshire County District Attorney's Office, prosecuted both cases, as the abuse occurred in Dalton and Becket in Berkshire County and Middlefield in Hampshire County.
Eramo, today, told Judge Richard Carey that Mackenzie Tarjick learned in 2009 that Aaron Tarjick had sexually abused the victim since she was 9 years old. The victim first disclosed the abuse to a family member, who contacted the state police. In a taped interview with police. Mackenzie Tarjick confessed to knowing of the abuse but not contacting authorities.
Eramo said a witness whose teenage daughter was close friends with the victim said that Mackenzie Tarjick admitted to her that she knew about the abuse but did nothing to stop it because she “needed” Aaron Tarjick. The witness said Mackenzie Tarjick told her that after police searching Tarjick’s home did not find a DVD showing Aaron Tarjick abusing the child, Mackenzie hid the DVD and that now it is gone.