HOT SPRINGS -- A Hot Springs woman and her boyfriend arrested Aug. 12 over allegations of abuse involving her 4-year-old daughter, including zip-tying the child to furniture, pleaded innocent to battery and abuse charges Tuesday morning in Garland County District Court.
Jennifer Diane Denen, 30, and her live-in boyfriend, Clarence Eugene Reed, 47, are scheduled to appear again in District Court Sept. 27 for a felony review hearing. The bail for each was lowered Tuesday from $500,000 to $100,000, but both remained in custody.
The case is expected to be bound over to Garland County Circuit Court within the next 30 days.
Denen and Reed, who both list a Cones Road address, were taken into custody shortly after 3 p.m. Aug. 12 and each charged with felony counts of first-degree domestic battery, punishable by up to 20 years in prison, and permitting abuse of a minor and first-degree endangering the welfare of a minor, each punishable by up to six years.
Garland County District Judge David Switzer issued a gag order limiting pretrial publicity, preventing law enforcement and court officials from discussing the case.
According to the Hot Springs police report, officers responded to the Cooper-Anthony Mercy Child Advocacy Center after state Department of Human Services workers and center employees examined the 4-year-old girl and determined she had been abused.
She had deep purple bruising on her bottom, lower back and legs; a black eye; a swollen right cheek; a bruise on her forehead; healing scars across her back; and dried blood in the corner of her mouth. The girl also had ligature marks on her wrists indicating she had been restrained, and appeared to be malnourished.
Zip ties were used to secure the child to her bed after she was seen climbing the cabinets in the kitchen, according to the report. It said she was referred to as "idiot." Denen said another child in the residence had told her that Reed also had zip-tied the child to a chair.
When officers asked the girl her name, she reportedly responded "idiot." Reed told investigators he referred to the child as "idiot" but claimed it was only as a joke.
State Desk on 08/24/2016