Assistant Prosecutor Michael Borgos said the things that Nichols told the interviewer contradict the facts regarding the first-degree kidnapping charge she pleaded guilty to last year.
Anthony Roberson and Plesi Nichols
TRENTON — A Trenton couple who pleaded guilty to tying up, beating and starving an 8-year-old girl in 2011 have changed their stories, a Superior Court judge said today.
Plesi Nichols and Anthony Roberson, who pleaded guilty in October and June respectively, were scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Thomas Brown today. But Nichols told probation officers, who were interviewing her during a pre-sentencing investigation, that she was threatened and feared for her life, according to her attorney Andrew Duclair.
Assistant Prosecutor Michael Borgos said the things that Nichols told the interviewer contradict the facts regarding the first-degree kidnapping charge she pleaded guilty to last year.
When Nichols pleaded guilty, entering into an agreement with the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office, she said she would use a rope to tie her daughter to a banister to keep her from moving.
During the hearing, Nichols refused to say how long the girl would be restrained or how often she and her fiance would tie the girl to furniture in their South Logan Avenue home. During that hearing, Nichols said she knew that tying up the girl caused severe damage to her.
Nichols also said that it was Roberson who started the alleged abuse. Roberson has said it was Nichols who started the abuse.
Roberson refused to be transported to court for the hearing today. He also contradicted his admission of guilt to the kidnapping charge during his pre-sentencing investigation.
Nichols’ plea agreement called for her to be sentenced to 18 years in state prison. Roberson’s plea agreement called for a 16-year state prison sentence.
Prosecutors said the house where Nichols’ daughter and three other young children lived was littered with dead and live rats, roaches, feces and rotting food. The poor conditions were discovered in May 2011 by sheriff’s detectives who went to the house to transport Nichols to a family court hearing on an unrelated matter. The detectives reported the conditions to the family court judge who ordered Division of Youth and Family Services employees to investigate with the help of detectives.
The children were at the home during the investigation, and the girl asked a detective if he could take her away because her mother was tying her up and beating her.
Borgos said he will order the transcripts of both Nichols and Roberson’s plea hearings to determine if there is a discrepancy. Duclair said he would speak to his client to see if she wants to move forward with sentencing or retract her guilty plea. An attorney representing Roberson, Michael Amantia, said he would also speak to his client to see how he wants to proceed.
Contact Jenna Pizzi at jpizzi@njtimes.com or (609) 989-5717.