Hot Springs police took Jennifer Denen, 30, and her boyfriend Clarence Reed, 47, into custody after the Arkansas Department of Human Services said the girl had many dark bruises on her body, as well as healed scars on her back and dried blood on her mouth, The Sentinel Record reports. The girl also had ligature marks on her wrists and looked malnourished.
Police said the girl thought her name was "idiot" because she was called often by that name, according to the police report. The girl lived with her mother, Denen, and Reed in a house where police said she was regularly tied up to furniture with zip ties as a form of punishment.
When questioned by officers, Denen said Reed also hit her daughter with a baseball bat and admitted to not seeking medical attention for her daughter's injuries. Reed said he would call the girl "idiot" as a joke and that he hit the girl with a wooden paddle, not a baseball bat, according to The Sentinel Record.
The couple faces charges of first-degree domestic battery, permitting abuse of a minor and endangering the welfare of a minor. They are being held on a $500,000 bond.
Read more at hotsr.com.
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