Crime & Safety

Apple Valley Woman Charged with Beating Child with Extension Cord

Valerie Elaine Moore is accused of repeatedly hitting a 13-year-old girl with an extension cord and a flip-flop.

An Apple Valley woman has been charged with hitting a 13-year-old child with an extension cord, causing the child to climb out a bedroom window and flee the house.

Valerie Elaine Moore, 34, is charged with malicious punishment of a child, a gross misdemeanor with a maximum penalty of a year in jail and a $3,000 fine.

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According to the criminal complaint, Moore called police on July 25 to report that the 13-year-old girl had run away. When police found the girl, she told them that Moore hit her repeatedly with an extension cord and a shoe.

The child had visible cuts on her upper left arm and injuries on both arms, both sides of her body, her back and her left leg, according to the complaint. The injuries included raised welts, cuts and scrapes.

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The child told police that earlier in the evening, Moore confronted her about opening an account on a social networking site, and that she began to yell at her because she had told her earlier not to open the account.

Moore then struck the girl repeatedly with an extension cord, the child told police. When the girl noticed that she was bleeding from the cuts on her leg, she asked Moore for a bandage. Moore told her to put her hand over the injury, according to the complaint.

After Moore stopped hitting her with the extension cord, she told the child to stay where she was, left the room and returned with a flip-flop in her hand, the complaint charges. She began to hit the child on the face and arms with the shoe, the girl told police.

After Moore left the room, the child changed clothes, tied bed sheets together and used them to climb out her window.

Moore admitted to police that she hit the child with an extension cord and a shoe, according to the complaint.

Moore is scheduled to make a first appearance on the charge Dec. 3 in Dakota County District Court in Hastings.


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