Parents Held In Beating Of New Adoptees 2 Russian Girls Were Being Brought To New Home In U.S.

An Arizona couple were arrested at Kennedy Airport after passengers said they repeatedly struck the two 4-year-old girls they had just adopted in Russia during their flight home, the Queens district attorney’s office said.

Passengers refused to leave the Delta Airlines flight Wednesday until police came aboard and arrested Richard Thorne, 48, and Karen Thorne, 42, of Phoenix, Mary de Bourbon, a spokeswoman for the Queens prosecutor’s office, said.

The passengers and flight crew told Port Authority police that the couple screamed and shouted at the children, threatened them, struck them and pulled on their arms with extreme force over the course of the 10-hour flight, said de Bourbon.

“The children were terrified, crying and screaming,” de Bourbon said. “They also had bruises.”

“Apparently their conduct caused a good number of passengers and flight attendants to intervene. Several passengers … offered to care for the children, but they (the Thornes) apparently were very hostile to the people.”

Flight attendant Brenda Cruz observed Karen Thorne strike one of the children several times, pull on her arms with extreme force and strike her in the back of the legs, causing the child to fall suddenly. Each time the woman struck he child, the youngster cowered and cried, the complaint filed in the case said.

Richard Thorne allegedly shouted, “Shut up,” at the two children and told them they would be sent back to Russia, the complaint stated. The children cried repeatedly throughout the flight, investigators said.

The flight crew called police, de Bourbon said. She would not disclose the names of the children, neither of whom speak English.

The couple flew to Moscow on May 18 in order to adopt the children. “They apparently went through an agency in Mesa, Ariz., that specializes in international adoptions and, as far as I understand from the detective, all their paperwork was in order and INS was involved,” de Bourbon said.

The parents were charged with assault and endangering the welfare of the two minors and were expected to be arraigned Thursday night in Queens Criminal Court.

The children were taken into the custody of the Administration for Children’s Services.