Racine police say a 29-year-old woman is facing felony child abuse charges after bruises from a belt and the buckle were found on two of her daughters.
Dominique Stevenson, of Racine, was charged Monday in Racine County Circuit Court with three felony
counts of first degree physical abuse of a child. If convicted, she faces up to 18 years in prison and/or up to $30,000 in fines.
According the criminal complaint, school counselors were alerted to the trouble when the oldest girl had some trouble with another student. When school officials said they would have to call the girl’s mother, she told them that whenever she gets in trouble at school and they call her mother, she gets beaten with a belt, including the buckle “because it will hurt (her) more.”
Police say the girl was examined and authorities found numerous bruises on her body, including one that was the perfect shape of a belt buckle. The girl told officers she and a younger sister get beaten almost every day and her mother “play hits” the youngest, who is four years old.
When police confronted Stevenson at her home and asked to see the belt in question, she gave it to them, the complaint reads.
Stevenson remains in the Racine County Jail on a $500 cash bond and a $1,000 signature bond. She is ordered to not have any contact with her daughters if she makes bail and is expected back in court April 20 for her preliminary hearing.