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| Jennifer Denen and Clarence Reed |
Police said that a couple was arrested after their daughter suffered abuse and she was called idiot so many times that she thought it is her name.
The 4-year-old girl of Arkansas, was found with zip tie marks on her body.
Police learned that the mother’s live-in boyfriend tied the child to her bed and repeatedly beat her.
Police in Hot Springs, arrested the girl’s mother, 30-year-old Jennifer Denen, who has 6 children, and her boyfriend, Clarence Reed, 47.
The arrests came after the child was examined by the Arkansas Department of Human Services,and she was found to be covered in bruises and scars on her bottom, lower back and legs. She also had a black eye and a swollen right cheek.
They called police. When authorities asked the 4-year-old for her name, she replied “idiot.”
According to police, Reed admitted that he called the girl “idiot,” but he said that it was a joke. Another child in the home told police that the child was always called “idiot.”
Denen and Reed were booked on charges of first-degree domestic battery, permitting abuse of a minor and first-degree endangering the welfare of a minor.
They both face up to 32 years behind bars if convicted on all three counts. They are being held on $500,000 bail.
After their mother’s arrest, Denen’s four older children were placed in the custody of their biological father. The victim and Denen’s youngest child were placed in state custody.
