LINCOLN COUNTY, Mo. (TCN) — A woman who has reportedly fostered more than 200 children over the years allegedly abused a teenage girl she was supposed to care for and abandoned her in a dirty Texas house.
According to an April 6 news release from the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office and Prosecuting Attorney, the investigation began after the victim disappeared and was later located in Texas. Authorities arrested and charged a suspect, Brenda Deutsch, on charges of neglect, child abuse, and child endangering as a result.
Per a probable cause statement reviewed by KSDK-TV, the young victim told police Deutsch allegedly struck her with a paddle, wooden trim, shoes, and her hand. The victim alleged that in one instance, someone held the girl down while Deutsch hit her bare buttocks.
The victim reportedly claimed that as punishment, Deutsch would take her clothes and give them away, and the suspect once had her transported to a psychiatric hospital and then admitted to a residential facility for nine months.
According to the probable cause statement, Deutsch had the girl stay with one of the suspect’s friends in Texas, where she was allegedly abandoned with exotic animals in unclean conditions. Deutsch allegedly told her friend she could keep the victim, but she would “be keeping the check.”
In a statement obtained by KSDK, Lincoln County Prosecutor Mike Wood said, “Two things that really stood out was the number of children that had been fostered through that home and then the allegations that these types of abuse and emotional neglect had been going on for what seemed to be perhaps a decade.”
Wood reportedly said investigators are looking into allegations claiming Deutsch traded the victim for a monkey. The prosecutor added, “A witness who had come forward with some information regarding the systemic abuse that was going on in the home had said that they had been asked to bring the child down to Texas and bring the monkey back in return. Obviously we have to do more investigation to see if that’s actually credible or if that’s true.”
The girl was reportedly transported to Child Protective Services in Texas.
Deutsch was booked into the Lincoln County Jail on $250,000 bond on April 6.
- News Release – Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office/Lincoln County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office
- Woman who has fostered more than 200 children facing ‘particularly heinous’ abuse charges – KSDK
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