Charges of third-degree child abuse and felonious assault have been brought against a mother who allegedly beat and whipped her 11-year-old son with various implements.
Latina Weeden, 40, of Orion Township, was arraigned in 52-3 District Court in Rochester early Tuesday, for an incident that took place Saturday evening.
She is lodged in Oakland County Jail, with bond set at $10,000 cash. Also arrested was Larita Lewis, 30, the boy’s aunt and the younger sister of Latina, whose bond is set at $2,500 cash.
Sheriff Detective Kevin Hearit said the boy had been beaten with various items, including a pool cue, an extension chord and a bamboo stick.
After Saturday’s incident, the boy fled the family home at 465 Brown Road, before going to a Meijer store in Auburn Hills where he contacted police. He was transported to St. Joseph Hospital for treatment of his injuries.
Hearit couldn’t confirm, but speculated that the boy may have been beaten by the mother on other occasions.
‘These injuries were recent,? he said, adding that bruises and injuries were found on the boy’s body that could have come from earlier beatings.
Deputies executing a search warrant at the home on the day of the incident ran into resistance from Lewis, who was reportedly ‘very uncooperative.?
Hearit said there were two other children in the home at the time of the arrest. Those children, who were reportedly not the mother’s, were turned over to protective services and later released to the custody of relatives.
The 11-year-old boy is in stable condition.