Authorities in Fridley, Minnesota have arrested a couple for allegedly making the woman’s 12-year-old daughter shave her head and run up and down the street in a diaper as punishment for poor grades.
Stephanie Ann Broten, 38, and her partner Darnell Alan Landrum, 34, were arrested Monday night on suspicion of gross-misdemeanor malicious punishment of a child after police were called to their residence and saw a horrific scene unfolding.
Reports state that around 50 people, including dozens of teenage and young adult men, were crowded along the street watching the girl do wind sprints in nothing more than a diaper and tank top, according to the criminal complaint. Officers said the girl’s head was completely shaved and she had likely been out in public for 30 minutes before police arrived, WCCO reports.
Fridley Police Lt. Mike Monsrud told the St. Paul Pioneer Press that when officers found the girl, she was “crying and hysterical.”
“[Broten and Landrum] told her if she didn’t [earn good grades], they would shave her head and put her on ‘diaper duty,’ which I guess meant running up and down the street and cleaning up trash as a form of public humiliation,” Monsrud told thePioneer Press. “Through the whole contact, and even on the way to jail, both were laughing and thinking it was ridiculous police would get involved in what they said was their parental decision.”
According to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, the girl had received an ‘F’ on her last report card and her mother thought the humiliating sprints were proper punishment.
The girl and three younger children living at Broten’s apartment have all been placed in foster care, according to the paper.
The couple made their first court appearance Wednesday, and Broten was released on bail on the condition that she not try to contact her daughter. A small bail was set for Landrum, who has minor criminal history.
According to WCCO, Broten and Landrum each face up to a year in jail and a $3,000 fine if they are convicted on the charges.
