HOT SPRINGS -- A 4-year-old Hot Springs girl taken into state custody last week reportedly had been zip-tied to furniture as a punishment by her mother and her mother's live-in boyfriend and thought her name was "idiot," according to an arrest report.
The mother and the boyfriend, Jennifer Diane Denen, 30, and Clarence Eugene Reed, 47, who both list a Cones Road address, were taken into custody Aug. 12 and charged with felony counts of first-degree domestic battery, punishable by up to 20 years in prison. They also were charged with permitting abuse of a minor and first-degree endangering the welfare of a minor, each punishable by up to six years.
Both are scheduled to appear Tuesday in Garland County District Court.
According to the report, Hot Springs police officers responded to Cooper-Anthony Mercy Child Advocacy Center after Arkansas Department of Human Services workers and center employees examined the 4-year-old girl and determined she had been abused.
She had deep purple bruising on her rear, legs and lower back; a black eye; a swollen right cheek; a bruise on her forehead; healing scars across her back; and dried blood in the corner of her mouth, according to the report.
The girl also had ligature marks on her wrists indicating she had been restrained and appeared to be malnourished, according to the report.
Officers asked the girl her name, and she reportedly responded, "idiot," according to the report. Another juvenile at the residence confirmed the girl had been tied up and was referred to as "idiot," according to the report.
Denen and Reed, her live-in boyfriend, were present at the center when officers arrived and were transported to the Police Department for questioning. During an interview, Denen said she saw Reed strike the 4-year-old on the bottom with a plastic bat, according to the report. The other juvenile told Denen that Reed had tied the girl to a chair using plastic zip ties, according to the report.
Denen admitted to not seeking medical care for the girl's injuries and that Reed regularly referred to the child as "idiot" while in her presence, according to the report.
Reed admitted to striking the girl on her rear with a half-inch-thick wooden paddle, but not a plastic bat, according to the report. He also admitted that he and Denen had used zip ties to secure the child to her bed, according to the report.
Reed told police that he did refer to the child as "idiot" but claimed he only did so as a joke, according to the report.
State Desk on 08/20/2016