Red Lake County, MN (trfnews.i234.me) – An Oklee man has been charged in Red Lake County District Court after he allegedly spanked his 2-year-old daughter hard enough to leave visible handprints.
Father Faces Felony Child Abuse Charges
Matthew Colin Singletary, 34, is facing a felony charge of malicious punishment of a child under age 4. The charge alleges that Singletary left handprints on both buttocks of his young daughter. He is scheduled to appear in court on June 17.
According to the complaint, the incident came to light on May 19 when the Pennington County Sheriff’s Office received a report from a woman who found a hand-sized bruise on her daughter’s buttocks while changing her diaper. The girl had been in her father’s care for 12 hours on the weekend of May 18. The mother noticed the bruising when she picked up the girl from Singletary’s home at 9 a.m. on May 19.
Neither the woman nor her boyfriend had seen any bruises earlier. The mother said she hadn’t noticed any bruises on Friday evening, and the boyfriend saw none while bathing the child Saturday morning before dropping her off with Singletary.
When contacted, Singletary allegedly claimed the child had probably fallen on some toys in her room. However, he later admitted to a Red Lake County sheriff’s deputy that he had spanked the girl for acting out but didn’t think it was hard enough to leave marks. Upon seeing a picture of the bruising, Singletary denied that it was caused by his actions. He then suggested that his ex-girlfriend might be trying to prevent him from seeing their child.