Friday, June 2, 2000 The Associated Press CORVALLIS, Ore. -- Criminal charges won't be pressed against a couple who abandoned their 11-year-old learning-disabled daughter at a hospital last month, a prosecutor said Thursday. While it appeared that Lanny and Mechelle Aerni had violated the state's law against child abandonment, their actions "did not place the child in any risk of injury," Benton County District Attorney Scott Heiser said. The Aernis left 11-year-old Rachael Aerni at the hospital May 16 with her medical records, prescription needs, and a letter saying they could no longer cope with the child's severe learning disabilities. It said they desperately needed help that so far had not been made available to them. The next morning, the Aernis were arrested at their home in rural Lebanon for child abandonment. Mechelle Aerni said her daughter has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and is compulsive-obsessive. She said the girl has threatened relatives with a knife, beats her head against walls, and is severely disobedient. Heiser said the evidence showed the couple had taken steps repeatedly to get mental health care for the child and that they left the girl at the hospital in hopes that she could get help before she hurt someone. "This is a situation that simply does not warrant the application of criminal sanctions," the district attorney said. The couple, who said they were nearly driven to suicide by their daughter's problems, could have faced up to five years in jail and a fine of $100,000 if they had been convicted of child abandonment. The case is similar to one in Delaware, in which a wealthy couple dropped off their 10-year-old son, who has cerebral palsy, at a hospital the day after Christmas. The couple said they were exhausted from round-the-clock care because nursing help was unavailable during the holidays. In March, they agreed to one year's probation and avoided a criminal trial. Mechelle Aerni said Rachael was being treated in a hospital and they talk on the telephone at least once a day. She would not say which hospital.