HOT SPRINGS, Ark. (AP) – An Arkansas couple has pleaded not guilty to battery and abuse charges after they were accused of zip-tying the woman’s 4-year-old daughter to her bed as punishment.
30-year-old Jennifer Denen and her 47-year-old boyfriend Clarence Reed are charged in Hot Springs with first-degree domestic battery, permitting the abuse of a minor and first-degree endangering the welfare of a minor. Both remain jailed on $100,000 bond Wednesday, a day after entering their pleas.
Garland County District Court Judge David Switzer also has issued a gag order in the case.
According to The Sentinel-Record newspaper, a police report says officers were summoned to the Cooper-Anthony Mercy Child Advocacy Center earlier this month after workers there determined the child had been abused. The report says that when asked her name, the girl responded “Idiot.”